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March/April 2012 –
BizVoice
/Indiana Chamber
49
“They created an associate’s program and a baccalaureate
program with Bluegrass Community College (out of Kentucky)
and bring in 18 to 20 students; they hired them at Toyota and
they work two to three days a week while they are getting their
degrees. They recruit PLTW students for their program,” Bertram
notes. “This has been so successful; they are expanding this
program to all North American training facilities.”
Higher education institutions have also embraced the
value of PLTW.
“We have a number of schools of engineering asking on
their applications if students have Project Lead the Way
experience. Companies and universities are actively recruiting
Project Lead the Way students and have had to redo their
curriculum because the students are so far advanced. There are
very positive outcomes and changes in higher education and
the workforce as a result of Project Lead the Way,” he describes.
Bertram looks to the business community to continue to
promote the importance of STEM education.
“Advocacy is very important. We need role models; we need
industry helping others understand and helping business compete.
At the same time, our students need role models to help them
understand the kind of opportunities that are available,” he affirms.
To view the March/April 2005
BizVoice
®
story on PLTW,
go to the archives section of www.bizvoicemagazine.com.
Story by Charlee Beasor
I N F O R M A T I O N L I N K
Resource:
Vince Bertram, Project Lead the Way, at
www.pltw.org
Despite his concerns, Halik is enthusiastic about the
partnership with Cummins as his district and Zionsville Community
Schools work together on this project. He notes that participants
meet for one and a half hours every Monday morning.
“We’re sending Cummins our last six years of capital project
budgets – every line item, and they’ll do an evaluation of our
spending,” he shares. “Now, Cummins is going to come to our
site and see what technologies we have and see how they’re funded
and see the long-range plan for replacing those technologies.”
Halik considers it “a privilege” to be involved in the process.
“I’m encouraged; two heads are always better than one,”
he surmises. “Sometimes you get trapped in your own way of
doing things and when someone on the outside who’s an
expert looks in, they’ll find a better, more efficient way. If
there’s a better way, I want to know what it is. The door is
wide open, and I’m excited to see this collaboration.”
I N F O R M A T I O N L I N K
Resources:
Mark Gerstle, Cummins, at www.cummins.com
Jim Halik, Community School Corporation of Southern
Hancock County, at corp.newpal.k12.in.us
Learning Lean
Continued from page 47
Next steps
Asked if they were encouraged at the end of the day, Snyder
and Merisotis indicated they were, and that they expect some
specific proposals soon. Obama, in fact, put colleges “on
notice” during his State of the Union speech and followed with
more details.
Inside Higher Ed
characterizes the proposals as
“using campus-based financial aid programs to reward colleges
that keep net price low and punish those that do not. Two
new competitions, modeled on Race to the Top, would reward
states that invest in higher education, and colleges and
nonprofit groups that improve productivity.”
Merisotis: “I was (encouraged). I thought the participants
were obviously excellent; it was a very constructive conversation.
I think the federal government does have a role to play here. I
don’t want the federal government to overreach and try to solve
all the problems. I do think the federal government has to do more
than it has done, and this may be a way to get that conversation
going. That’s always tough in an election year. Either we get
some policy in place this year or the President has helped set the
tone for future discussions that I think are going to be necessary
whether it is his administration or a new administration.”
Snyder: “We left with the impression that the President is
looking for some fairly radical solutions, which means that
after hearing from a lot of constituents, this will become an
issue that will come up in the State of the Union or the
campaign – or in federal Department of Education policy. We
have encouraged them to keep Pell Grants focused on students
who could finish with some incentive at the end.”
While there is no synergy for this same group to necessarily
meet again, Ivy Tech is involved in forming a national organization –
Rebuilding America’s Middle Class – of community colleges
around the country. The goals, according to Snyder, are to be
a policy voice for how community colleges can help close the
earnings gap that has developed over the last 20 years, develop
policy that will help people go to community colleges in
increasing numbers and make a substantial commitment to the
awareness of community colleges.
“Forty percent of undergraduates in the country are at
community colleges and people are just not aware of that,”
Snyder concludes.
I N F O R M A T I O N L I N K
Resources:
Tom Snyder, Ivy Tech Community College, at
www.ivytech.edu
Jamie Merisotis, Lumina Foundation, at
www.luminafoundation.org
Merisotis/Snyder
Continued from page 23