MV CONNECT
Your Connecting Activities Newsletter - Summer 2021
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Meet Brian Norris, MMVWB Executive Director |
Important business sectors in the region suffer from chronic skills shortages. MassHire Merrimack Valley Workforce Board is eager to forge partnership among businesses, educators, government, and workforce development staff to help solve this problem. |
Brian Norris was appointed Executive Director of the MassHire Merrimack Valley Workforce Board in January 2021.
Brian brings over 35 years of manufacturing experience, holding positions ranging from the factory floor to the boardroom. As President of Lawrence, MA based Sekiusi Voltek, he was responsible for North American operations of Sekisui Chemical Company’s International Foam Division. Emphasizing new product development, innovation, and customer satisfaction he delivered strong increases in revenue and profit.
In his most recent position as Director of the Northeast Advanced Manufacturing Consortium (NAMC), Brian helped create training partnerships among Workforce Boards, Community Colleges, Technical High Schools, and Advanced Manufacturers. The Consortium trained and placed over 500 unemployed adults into well-paying manufacturing jobs. He has helped develop over 150 Registered Apprenticeships at dozens of manufacturing companies in Northeastern Massachusetts.
Brian has also taught courses in Manufacturing Fundamentals and Lean Six Sigma at Middlesex Community College, Northern Essex Community College and North Shore Community College.
In his new role, Brian hopes to build on the collaborative model develop by NAMC and apply it to other business sectors in the Merrimack Valley.
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Manufacturing the Future
"We need the next generation of manufacturing to be built by bold, innovative freethinkers that can design products, advance technologies and streamline supply chains to distribute items on a global scale."
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Innovation Pathways:
New Tools to Support Your Programs
The Innovation Pathways Data Dashboards, developed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in collaboration with key stakeholders, assists schools and their partners with tracking program success are now available.
DESE is also unveiling the Innovation Pathways Annual Report, designed to pair with existing data collection systems and gather qualitative information about Innovation Pathways programming, including progress over the course of the academic year, key changes, and insight into the program’s future direction.
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Deadline Extended: Massachusetts Work Immersion Network (MassWIN) - Professional Development for Educators
Do you have an established Innovation Pathway? Then you are eligible to apply for this competitive grant. DESE and the Executive Office of Education just launched the Massachusetts Work Immersion Network (MassWIN): a partnership with the Northeastern University Network for Experiential Teaching and Learning (NeXT) to bring work-based learning to scale, via technology-enabled, technically-supported student work-based learning experiences i.e internships, capstones and co-ops.
As part of MassWIN, and through an application process, DESE is soliciting eligible schools/districts to identify up to three educators - two classroom teachers and one internship/co-op coordinator - to participate in this professional development course. The work-based learning pilot will be implemented from July 7, 2021 through November 30, 2021. A $5,000 stipend is available. Applications are due by 5:00 pm on Monday, June 21, 2021.
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HSSEIP: Youth Explore Teaching Careers |
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The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education High School Senior Education Intern Program (HSSEIP) is designed for high school seniors with an interest in teaching pathways.
HSSEIP partnered with Educators Rising to provide professional development sessions in key skills, knowledge, and dispositions important for a career in the education field, including professionalism, understanding bias, understanding equity, culturally responsive teaching, and formative assessment.
HSSEIP is an immersive internship providing first-hand experience in the classroom. Miesha Acevedo, a senior at Amesbury High School, expressed her appreciation in helping her prepare for her future as an educator. Through the HSSEIP program Miesha was able to experience the time that goes into lesson planning, getting a full glimpse of the behind-the-scenes effort it takes to prepare. She assisted in formulating curricula and noted that the program helped to guide her in “thinking on [her] feet” adjusting to students’ needs in the moment. When asked what she enjoyed most about the program, she said, “I liked being able to get up in front of the class. At first, I was nervous but as I got more exposure, it felt natural. It was hands-on, which I enjoyed.”
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HSSEIP Intern Comments
How do you feel like this program prepared you for the path to accomplished teaching?
Understanding behind the scenes, more insight into lesson planning, curriculum preparation/experience.
What were the most important skills/takeaways from the HSSEIP? Did you learn any particularly new or interesting things?
Thinking on your feet, adjusting as necessary to accommodate [students needs], learning how to fit the child’s needs, learning the effort it takes to create lesson plans and manage a classroom.
What was your favorite part of the program?
Getting up in front of class, hands-on, preparation.
With the immersive experience, it began to feel natural.
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Micro College Career Courses for Youth
Micro Career Courses were introduced this spring to provide unique learning opportunities for youth 17-21 to explore college level courses and entry level career exploration.
Participants were given the opportunity to attend remote college courses in introduction to Health Care and Entrepreneurship at MT Wachusett Community College, and Information Technology with American Graphics Institute (AGI). All participants received a stipend upon completion for their time.
Students who attended classes received a non-credit transferable transcript, and those who worked with AGI in IT explored web design and completed the training creating a WordPress website.
Eileen Hernandez, 17, a resident of Lawrence MA, completed both the Web Design and Entrepreneurship courses, said “taking the classes allowed me to see the things that I am capable of.” Sharing she was “a bit scared, shy, and the pandemic didn’t help, but that in the end it was all worth it.” She continued “the youth program has a way of showing people a little independence, they show you an option, and then the opportunity shows people they can do it.” Eileen now has experience in creating websites and has a better understanding of what is involved in starting a business – “a lot.” She has some business ideas, but doesn’t know if she will pursue, but expressed each class “brought her security that I can do something with this knowledge at any given time.”
The virtual Micro Career Courses is a new concept developed by Masshire and Commonwealth Corporation YouthWorks Year-Round and vendors.
Micro career opportunities will extend into summer 2021 and continue to be available to youth 17-21. A selection of the 353 youth Masshire will be servicing this summer will be placed in virtual Micro Careers Courses.
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Summer Open Courses for High School Students
Free college-credit-bearing courses for high school students supporting the development of college-and-career-ready skills are online and open to all MA high schoolers.
These free courses are offerings from the Teacher Collaborative’s Passion to Learn Co-Lab for Leadership. Eighteen school teachers from across Massachusetts have been collaborating and sharing promising remote and hybrid practices.
- Fostering Civic Engagement through Problem Based Learning in the Humanities (2 credits from UMass Boston)
- The Mathematics Behind Social Inequality (2 credits from UMass Boston)
- Student Activism Using Social Media (non-credit bearing)
What you need to know:
- These courses are FREE for students; students must successfully complete the course and demonstrate mastery to earn the credits.
- Courses will be accessible via laptop, tablet, or even smartphone.
- The majority of the content will be accessed asynchronously to accommodate students’ existing summer plans.
- Students should expect to commit up to 40 hours during the 5 week period from July 19th through August 20th.
- Courses are open to students enrolled in Massachusetts high schools, entering grades 10, 11, 12 or recent high school graduates.
Download a printable flyer here.
Questions?
If you have questions about this program, please contact the Program Director Diana Lebeaux (diana@theteachercollaborative.org).
If you would like to help fund these courses to keep them free for students or learn about our plans to increase students' access to great teachers and teaching beyond this summer, please reach out to Teacher Collaborative Executive Director Maria Fenwick (maria@theteachercollaborative.org).
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"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the wide reach of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics fields across public life." -Governor Baker
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The Massachusetts STEM Summit is an event that occurs annually and consists of experts in their respective industries as well as leaders from entities that range from the state’s education system to government branches, all who are committed to promoting careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) realm. The STEM summit usually occurs in person but due to COVID-19, the 2021 event was held virtually.
This year’s summit consisted of three panels: Inspiring a STEM Start, The Power of Mentoring and the STEM Workforce Pipeline. Each panel focused on different aspects of STEM career foundational elements, such as exploring unique approaches to building students’ STEM skills, creating quality, guided pathways, and developing partnerships with prospective employers in order to foster career opportunities in STEM, particularly in the current hybrid environment.
Speakers included Governor Baker, Carolina Alarco (Board Chair and Co-Founder of Latinos in Bio) and Hamilton Bennett (Senior Director of Vaccine Access and Partnerships at Moderna).
Governor Baker presented the opening remarks at the summit, shedding light on how "the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the wide reach of science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields across public life." Baker noted how STEM truly is an integral part of everyday life. In his words, “For us, one of the biggest lessons that’s been learned is how important it is for all of us to embrace this idea that STEM is not just part of the technology world or the life science world, it’s everywhere,” Baker said. “The practical application of the skillsets and the knowledge and the tools especially that come with STEM can be applied in multiple settings in both professional and personal endeavors.”
Carolina Alarco underlined the importance of creating opportunities for marginalized populations, allowing minority women access to resources in STEM and stressed representation of minorities in these fields as well.
The keynote address was given by Hamilton Bennett and focused on her efforts alongside a skilled team of scientists and engineers in developing a safe and effective vaccine to combat SARS-CoV-2. Her experience further supported Baker's remark earlier in the summit regarding the application of STEM being pertinent to everyone's lives and applicable across the board, especially in the time of the current global pandemic.
Although the Summit was virtual this year, there were ample resources and integrative features on the STEM Summit database platform. Guests were able to participate in the panels, provide feedback, partake in trivia/games related to STEM topics and were provided several resources from networking opportunities to quality information.
Visit the summit’s History page to watch videos from the 2021 event.
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Financial Literacy Toolkit
The MassHire Merrimack Valley Workforce Board has created a financial literacy and work-readiness curriculum for high school and middle school students. The toolkit will be launched this summer and will be ready for the 2021-22 school year.
Each curricular module corresponds with Massachusetts Department of Education financial literacy or economics standards and is composed of curated websites, case studies, lesson plans, and interactive activities. The curriculum promotes critical thinking and analysis, and incorporates inclusive design components for optimum accessibility for all students.
Topics include credit cards and debt, saving and decision making, and developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Modules can be used by individual students or classroom teachers and will be made available on our website.
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Did you miss this year's conference? You can access YAR online searchable database of resources here.
YAR's mission is to support communities of professionals serving children, youth and families, and to provide them with affordable continuing education, collaborative networking and self-care opportunities.
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Seeking Outstanding Facilitators
for Summer Project-Based Learning (PBL)
The MassHire Merrimack Valley Workforce Board is seeking outstanding professionals interested in facilitating Project-Based Learning (PBL) opportunities for the 2021 YouthWorks Summer Program.
The program is for youth 14-21 and runs for five consecutive weeks starting July 13. This year MMVWB will be offering two Project-Based Learning tracks: 1. Producing a Social Media Plan and 2. Cultivating and Sharing Self-care and Wellness.
Commonwealth Corporation, funders of the program, will provide the design, curriculum resources, professional learning communities and additional live virtual sessions. PBL offerings integrate local resources and partners into the programming.
The total number of compensated hours, including prep-time, is 150. If interested, please contact Cristy Gomez at 978-857-5220.
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Career Development Education (CDE) = Awareness + Exploration + Immersion |
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MassHire Merrimack Valley Workforce Board
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Connecting Activities is a program funded by the MA Dept. of Elementary & Secondary Education.
It’s operated by the MassHire Merrimack Valley Workforce Board.
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