CAREER-INSPIRED LEARNING SPACES Lori Lambropoulos, Principal, Energy Institute High School, Houston ISD As an educator tasked with designing a first-in-the-nation, energy-themed high school, my first thought was, “I bet it would be a good idea to ask energy industry professionals what kind of employees they want in their corporations.” So that’s the first thing we did. Before we had teachers, students or a building, we visited the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston and went booth-by-booth asking questions and collecting data from a variety of professionals. We created an advisory board of energy professionals and we had a lot of conversations. Little did we know how these simple acts to connect would drive us to a mission and vision for our school that was dramatically different from a traditional high school. I’ve been in education for over two decades, why had I never thought of this before? I think it came from the synergy created by this public-private partnership. Professionals’ thoughts on needs for their skilled workforce changed the game plan for our school. All of a sudden, we were dreaming of a truly innovative schoolhouse built for project-based learning, high technology use, energy industry collaboration, student problem solving, and so much more. I think my colleague, Paul Niznik, Senior Consultant, Energy; Argus Media, sums it up nicely: To meet the unique challenges in the energy industry, the Houston public schools launched the Energy Institute High School (EIHS) around a mission to groom the next generation of energy employees. Obviously, an energy-themed curriculum strong in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) would be the primary focus. But to really engage the students and prepare them for the modern energy workplace, Principal Lori Lambropoulos incorporated a radical shift, changing the entire style of education to project-based learning. I was lucky to join on as one of EIHS’s industry advisors, and we were quick to agree that an energy-themed school achieved more relevance when designed around a project-based learning style. In order to prepare young students for the skills needed in the energy industry, project-based work is essential. So far, the results have been spectacular. The competitive energy business requires that everyone wear more than one hat to keep companies lean. Smaller teams
demand wider skill sets from each individual. With less oversight to guide or solve issues, employees also need to have the social skills to group-manage the wide set of personality types working on a deadline toward a specific outcome. There isn’t room in the energy world these days for the old stereotypes: the socially awkward engineer, the business majors who skipped science or the marketing personnel who don’t really understand how things work. Today’s energy sector professionals must have a broad base of learning experiences and the ability to apply them in a variety of situations. Take an energy company that requires a re-working of its operations due to new environmental standards. The company will build a team with internal operations expertise and well as members with design, environmental regulatory, and even public relations backgrounds. The project will have multiple tasks: diagnosing issues, designing solutions, communicating plans internally and publicly, and executing adaptations. Everyone will be challenged to work outside of a single, familiar job description. Continued on next page >>
2019 | EXPERIENCE | Vol. 6
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