Answer E: Edupreneurs Bridging Workforce & Education

Can there really be a school district that is so encouraging of innovation that they buy an abandoned amusement park to see what their teachers could do with the freedom to be creative? At the National ACTE Conference in Las Vegas, I was introduced to a dynamic group of edupreneurs from an organization called Butler Tech. Their presentations on Student Centered Disruption, Risk-taking & Innovation, and Diversity & Equity were so aligned with Answer E that I was compelled to approach one of the presenters for an interview. Join me as I learn from Dr. William Sprankles III, Assistant Superintendent of Innovative Teaching and Learning about the edupreneurial shifts they are making and the positive impact on students.

Are small, rural schools different from larger, more urban schools and districts? Our communities all look different, and so do our schools. Join me on this episode as I speak with Tim Taylor, the Executive Director of the Small School Districts Association here in California and learn about the ways that small schools are using their models to help prepare their students for the career field.

Have you heard the term "Graduate Profile" and wondered what exactly it is or how it helps to bridge the education to workforce gaps? Join me as I interview Roman Stearns of Scaling Student Success about his work with sites and districts, and the impact creating a Graduate Profile can have!

After attending a recent meeting as an Advisory Council member for California State University at Chico's Women in Leadership program, I learned a lot about the 2023 Workplace Trends. It spurred me to read more on my own, including reviewing information from Forbes and Harvard Business Review, which I connect to my experience working with edupreneurs, working to bridge the worlds of education and workforce development. In this episode, I take a break from the interview format to give my brief takeaways and future questions, always striving to learn more.

This episode gives My Why- my story, how it has made me an edupreneur and what I hope to learn through this podcast.
I never fit into the classic student role, and I never related to the traditional career ladder concept. Grades never held much meaning to me, and I was more interested in learning about the people at school than the content.

Growing up, I spent my weekends learning to work with my hands as my family always had projects around the house- I learned to dig ditches for irrigation, helped build decks and crawled under the house to help feed electrical lines through, while learning to identify what termite towers looked like so we could know them down before they reached their goal.

I am a first generation college graduate, but my journey was more like climbing a tree than a ladder, investigating different branches.

Four years ago, I thought I had the answers to where my career was headed. I was the site principal at a small high school I had helped design to fit the needs of students in my community, and I thought my future was mapped out for me. When a historic wildfire burned down our school, community and homes, I had to start thinking differently. While we were designing the high school our team had the opportunity to visit innovative programs throughout the state and moving to the County Office gave me the opportunity to experience even more programs designed to fit unique student needs.

The more I learn, the more questions I have. I don’t have the answers– all of you do! My passion for non-traditional students like me, combined with our societal shifts, drive me towards finding innovative solutions to bridge our educational systems with the shortages in the workforce, in ways that fit our new generation of learners and workers.