The peer mentoring was so dynamic during the Bridges to STEM Careers project at the Bay Area Video Coalition that the San Francisco non-profit will give peer mentors more prominent roles in its new Next Generation Bridges Fellowship.
The fellowship program, which begins this summer, will sustain peer mentoring along with other successful aspects of the recently concluded Bridges to STEM Careers project that was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program.
For the mentors’ take on Bridges see BAVC’s “The Role of Peer Mentors” video. It is one of nine three-minute video vignettes that BAVC produced with ATE grant support to inform underrepresented students and their families about media arts and technology careers, and the process for gaining entry to them.
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The notion of family as a motivation, inspiration, and support comes up again and again when Marcus Maximin talks about the four-year maritime technology apprenticeship program at Tidewater Community College.
He acknowledges it can be “tough” working eight-to-10 hour days and then going to class two evenings a week.
“To tell you the truth, what keeps me going is my two boys. They are 12 and 4. And every time I walk in that door I get a hug and that, “Daddy!” That keeps me going. I do it for them,” he explained.
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The remotely operated vehicle competition sponsored by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center has a pivotal role in two movies and a new book. It is the backdrop for Spare Parts, a feature film being released in January, a new book with the same title, and Underwater Dreams, a documentary released in theaters this past summer.
The central plot feature of all these works is MATE’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) competition in 2004 when the underwater robot constructed by a team of immigrant Hispanic students from a Phoenix high school beat other high school, community college and university teams, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jill Zande, MATE’s associate director and coordinator of the center’s ROV competition, is working with the feature film’s marketing team to attract attention to the center’s educational activities and marine technology careers.
“We’re excited that the films and book are calling attention to STEM programs and the powerful impact that they can have on students and student learning. They also demonstrate what students—no matter what their background or socioeconomic status—are capable of when given the opportunity,” Zande said.
The MATE Center’s Facebook page currently includes a video summary of the 2004 competition (Carl Hayden Community High School’s champion ROV appears at 4:12).The trailer for the Hollywood version starring George Lopez, Carlos PenaVega, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Marissa Tomei is online too.
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Chris LaBranche signed up for a career day field trip to get out of classes his senior year in high school. “I had no intentions of going and looking for work or a career,” he said.
But the CNC machine and other industrial equipment on display as well as the conversations with machinists and others manufacturing employees caught his attention. Then Asnuntuck Community College staffers told him of the generous scholarships and paid internships available to their manufacturing technology students. By the time he learned of the 90% employment rate for the graduates of the one-year certificate program, LaBranche was set on a manufacturing career.
“That got me hooked right there. I wanted a job right out of school,” LaBranche said. He is now a toolmaker for Dymotek Plastic Injection Molding in Ellington, Connecticut.
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