Page 8 - TTMNFall2026

Manufacturing
Page 8 Electronic Edition: www.teachingtodaymn.com

Career Pathways Take Center Stage at Manufacturing, Engineering

and Robotics Open House

Marisa Vette, APR Guests participated in self-guided
Director of Communications and Community and guided tours of the Manufacturing and
Relations Engineering Facility. The tours provided
White Bear Lake Area Schools industry professionals, parents and commu-
White Bear Lake Area High School nity members with an opportunity to see the
recently opened its doors to students, families, state-of-the-art spaces where students are
community members and industry profes- developing technical skills and putting class-
sionals for a Manufacturing, Engineering & room learning into practice.
Robotics Open House, offering an inside look The facilities are a direct result of the
at the hands-on learning opportunities avail- community’s support of the 2019 Build-
able through the school’s Career Pathways ing Our Future Bond Referendum, a $326
programs. million building bond request that addressed
Throughout the evening, attendees toured facility needs across the district. A substan-
the high school’s Manufacturing and Engi- tial investment was made at White Bear
neering facilities, explored modern design and Lake Area High School as part of the effort
fabrication labs, connected with students and to bring all district high school students
watched live demonstrations from the White together in one building.
Bear Lake FIRST Robotics Team 2207, the The Manufacturing and Engineering
“Bright Bears.” facilities were designed to support Career
The event highlighted how White Bear and Technical Education pathways and create equally important, the students who are using “Bright Bears” demonstrated custom-built
Lake Area Schools is preparing students opportunities for students to work with equip- them. competitive robots, highlighting students’
for careers in technical fields through learn- ment, tools and technologies that mirror those Throughout the evening, live robotics skills in programming, mechanical design,
ing experiences that combine creativity, found in today’s technical and manufacturing demonstrations in the Student Union show- engineering and strategy.
problem-solving, engineering and real-world industries. The Open House gave industry cased the technical innovation and teamwork
application. partners a firsthand look at the spaces and, taking place at the high school. Team 2207 Continued on Page 11

New Course Connects Students to the World of Technology Continued from Page 4
expand upon. We are won the challenge. The winning team built 37 ing the two careers and sharing their thoughts
going to meet each bricks. on which career they would choose for each
student where they are The activity was intended to show stu- category.
at as much as possible.” dents there is more to the class than building The activity allowed students to make
Radwan is learn- just technical skills. connections between what they are learning in
ing and growing a lot in “A big part of what we’re asking or class and their potential career interests after
this course. wanting kids to get out of any Pathways high school.
“I didn’t have any course are the career and life competencies,” “I am looking to go into the trades after
knowledge of coding says Karen. “This includes collaboration. high school,” says Cheemeng. “I am planning
coming in,” he says. It’s also about self-direction, learning about to take a lot of classes to explore the different
“The most challeng- yourself, and what you like and what you’re options.”
ing part is just learning interested in.” Radwan is interested in engineering as a
about coding in general. career path after high school.
But I am starting to get Discovering Where Technology Can “I wanted to take this course because
the hang of it.” Take You I want to go into engineering after high
Cheemeng, a 9th Students in this course got a taste of school,” he says. “My brother is an engineer
Networking, then, literally connects the grader, on the other hand, has prior coding career exploration early on when they com- and that’s a big reason I want to learn more
areas of study. experience. He took the EPIC game design and pleted a career-interest project. and explore it.”
“How do we keep it all safe and secure STEM classes at Westwood Middle School. “Students began by taking a career pro- The course also gives students a chance
and connected?” Martin asks. He is enjoying expanding his knowledge. filer to identify potential career paths that to discover what they don’t want to pursue.
“I like the hands-on opportunities and might be a good fit for them based on their “For some kids, maybe this is ruling out
Meeting Students Where They’re At working with a team,” says Cheemeng. interests and skills,” says Zac. “From their top that this area doesn’t interest them, and that’s
One of the unique things about this course five career matches, they selected one career okay,” says Karen. “It’s really about the explo-
is that students may enter the course with dif- Collaboration is Key to this Course. to research and compared it to a career related ration.”
ferent levels of experience. Before students got started on their to one of the industries highlighted in this Students who find something that inter-
Some students have been writing code coding unit, they participated in a number of course.” ests them, whether software or physical
at home for years; others may not have any team-building activities that helped build com- Students researched a number of factors machines or the networking that connects
coding experience at all. The course was munication and collaboration skills that will related to both careers. This included job them, will have the opportunity to explore
designed to support students with varying be needed as they work together on projects. responsibilities, education requirements, the those areas more deeply. There may also be
degrees of experience. One of the first activities involved a time and money needed to obtain the edu- an entirely new interest that they hadn’t even
“We teach it brand new for those who are manufacturing challenge where students par- cation, job availability in the metro, and the considered before taking this course.
coming into this course without much knowl- ticipated in designing an assembly line and projected future outlook for the jobs.
edge of the course topics,” says Martin. “But building paper-bag ‘bricks’ that met certain Students then used Canva, a graphic
we are also aware that some students have criteria. Teams that finished the most bricks design software, to create a poster compar- springlakeparkschools.org
knowledge or experience that they want to while maintaining the integrity of their design