How to Build & Grow an Industry-Aligned CTE Program - Maroun Nehme, Director of Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics at BPHS - The TechEd Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Kirchner (00:00):
Matt, great to have you along this week on The

(00:10):
TechEd Podcast. My name is MattKirchner, I am your host. We
talk at the end of everyepisode, and for those of you
that stick around for the end ofthe episodes, we talk about how
you can find The TechEd Podcastall over social media. We talk
about being on Facebook, we talkabout being on Instagram, on
LinkedIn, on Tick, tock,anywhere you go for your social
media, that is where you'll findThe TechEd Podcast. And that is

(00:31):
where we originally foundtoday's guest. We've gotten to
know him quite well over thecourse of the last several
months, a great thought leaderin technical education, doing
incredible things, inspiring thenext generation of STEM and
workforce talent. Really excitedto introduce to the audience of
The TechEd Podcast my friendmaroon, namey. He is the
director and teacher of advancedrobotics and mechatronics at

(00:54):
Buena Park High School. We'regoing to learn about Buena Park
High School in just a littlebit. But before we get into
that, maroon, thank you so muchfor taking some time for us here
on The TechEd Podcast. Joe'shere, thank you for having me.
So one of the things I loveabout your story is it's not
unique in terms of how you gotinto technical education. You
worked in manufacturing andsales before entering education.
Guess what? I also worked inmanufacturing and sales before

(01:17):
entering education. So it's agreat path into the world that
we're in. But talk a little bitabout what made you take the
leap from working inmanufacturing into the education
space.

Maroun Nehme (01:26):
It's a little bit of a unfortunate story that
turned, I guess, into this, youcould say, to keep it simple,
you know, I wanted to be ateacher in the beginning, but
making more money inmanufacturing and sales than I
would have and in 2013 I wasworked 15 years for the company
we're still recovering from therecession, took a couple of pay
cuts, eventually got laid off,and my wife was pregnant with

(01:46):
our second child, and we foundout that he had a heart
condition, so we basically hadto make a decision of how to
take care of him when he wasborn. And he also came out five
weeks early. I guess he wasrushed to come out into the
world. Well, I made the decisionfor me to be the stay at home
dad. My wife is also aneducator, and she had 10 years.
She had the benefits, and I hadto work opposite her schedule,

(02:07):
because one income in SouthernCalifornia just doesn't cut it
these days, for sure, right? SoI started tutoring and doing
Uber and I tutored in math.
That's what my undergrad is in.
And I don't know, maybe I workwith 100 kids in the five year
span, and a lot of the parentskept telling me, you belong in
the classroom. You need to go tothe classroom. And that's really
what pushed me to go back andthink about becoming an
educator. I went to teach math.
Didn't think I would ever in mylife be doing this, but I love

(02:29):
it. I've loved it since day one,and here we are. The rest is
history.

So did you have to go through any licensing or
any additional education to makethat switch?

I did. I didn't have to do anything with math,
because my Bachelor's was inpure math, so I had the subject
matter expertise. Part of thatfulfilled. I did have to take
six prerequisite classes, andthen I enrolled in the
credential and funny story Matttoo. I actually almost dropped
out. The cost was a little bitoverbearing, and I knew it would
have to work less. My son wasdoing better at the time, so

(03:01):
he's starting kindergarten, andfortunately, I applied for a
scholarship that covered thefull cost. It was about $10,000
and covered both semesters ofcredentialing programs so I can
focus on my studies and beprepared rather than think about
how many hours I can work eachweek to make ends meet.

And I know, before we go on with the
conversation, I know you wereleaving your question hanging
with the audience, you said thatthis adversity ended up with a
positive ending. So how's yourson doing now, if we can, he's

doing quite well.
He's I don't know if you'rewatching Jimmy Fallon's, but his
son sure has the same exactcondition, which is called the
trilogy of fallow so theyeventually repaired his heart.
He'll eventually need one moresurgery. But the hard part was,
in the beginning, he spent about90 days in the NICU before we're
able to bring him home, justfeeding issues on other
developmental issues. But he'salive, and he's done really,
really well, so we're happy tohave him in this world, and he's

(03:48):
almost 12 now next month,

unbelievable, and glad to hear that that's going
well, and certainly give Him ourrest here from The TechEd
Podcast. Thank you. We sayoften, at least I do, that every
adversity sows the seeds of agreater opportunity, and we
never quite know where life isgonna take us or where we're
being led. And sometimes it'snot obvious until after the
fact. In your case, you were ledinto this incredible opportunity

(04:12):
to inspire students and makechanges in their lives, put them
on career pathways they mightnever have been on had it not
been and probably, in fact,probably would not have been on
had it not been for yourconsiderable influence. So talk
a little bit about with thisexperience in business
development, sales,manufacturing, how does that
influence the way you teach inthe classroom?

The biggest part of this is allowing me to bring
real life experience into theclassroom. Even though I worked
for a manufacturing company, Iwas definitely more on the sales
end of it, and the manufacturingthat we did, we had very little
automation, but just talking tostudents about what to expect in
the real world, things that youneed to know you need to
demonstrate to your boss,communication skills,

(04:51):
initiative. You can't wait forsomebody to just tell you what
to do all the time, and it'sreally have them gain those
employability skills so they canbe prepared. One. Start out in
the real world looking to makesome money. And

it is interesting. You know, you think
1015, years ago now, if this is2013, or so that you made the
transition, it is incredible howmuch more automation there is in
manufacturing than there wasthen. And certainly, a lot of
employers, and I spent a ton oftime in the manufacturing space,
have a long way to go. A lot ofthem aren't quite there yet, but
they're making changes rapidly.
Points to why it's so importantfor us to have this workforce

(05:23):
and have this talent that isready, job ready, technology
ready when they walk into themanufacturing space. So talk
about your program. Let ouraudience know. What is buen a
Park High School all about?
Where is it? Who are yourstudents? And then what does
that path look like through yourprogram?

Absolutely. This might be a little bit long, but
I'll try to keep it short. Gofor it. Buena Park High School.
Bucha Park is in Orange County,California, where, you know, 15
minutes away from Disneyland,very close to Knott's Berry
Farm. The program, it's funnybecause when I finished my
student teaching, which was thefall of 2019, or the program was
in its infancy stage. It wasbrand new. There was another

(05:59):
teacher teaching it. He had justhad two sections and three
sections of math. He was workingto become an admin, and he left
in December. When I finished mycredential, an opportunity came
up. I went to talk to myprincipal. I had walked in the
room. I was like, This is great.
This is amazing. I would like toapply for this position. I was
hired, and the program wasbrought to be a very high
quality CTE program, somethingto provide students as an option

(06:21):
besides college. You know, afterhigh Sure, I'll be honest with
you, I didn't really know awhole lot about it, but I wasn't
afraid of it. I've never beenafraid of the unknown. And it
looked cool. I mean, theclassroom was just like never
anything I've ever seen before.
So I took over the program, and10 weeks later, I went home
because of COVID. The followingyear, you know, we had hybrid

(06:42):
and all sorts of stuff. So itreally wasn't until the 2021
2022 year, I want to say so fouryears ago, when we were
physically in the classroom andI felt the program started to
get some traction. At thatpoint. Sure, I eventually made
into a three year pathway. Ididn't know what I was doing
when I first came in, so I wentfrom two to three, and
eventually, actually, with, evenwith the help of my first soccer

(07:03):
training, really gave me someclarity of how to run this

smart automation certification Alliance. Is that
right? Saka, yeah, okay,correct. Yes,

that is good. I probably should have mentioned
that. So I have it as a threeyear pathway now, and the first
year, we call it the advancedrobotics and mechatronics, which
is the introductory class in thepathway. My first semester, I
focus on just the soccer 101,basic operations preparation.
Kids do the rotation fromstation to station, and they
prepare to take the soccerwritten exam, which we can talk
about a little bit later aswell. For sure. Second semester,

(07:33):
we shift to mindseye, so thekids build a catapult, then they
choose whether they want tobuild a four by four or a six by
six, and we run their wholefoundations Lab, which is
extremely engaging, and it's agreat way to recruit kids into
the program. And

just to make sure I'm tracking the mind's eye
would be if I'm right, SpokaneWashington, Mike marzetta and
others, and that is the companythat's kind of around drones and
UGVs. So flying drones andground drones, is that right?
Absolutely.

And in that first year, we mostly focus on the
UGVs, which also help preparestudents, if they like, to enter
some of the skills you essaycompetitions we do as well. And
then the second year, we call itMechatronics honor. So it's an
honors class the second year,and that's the concentrator. So
now again, we kind of replicatefirst semester soccer, but this
time it's the 102, the advancedoperations. A lot more to learn.

(08:20):
We're getting into PLCs. We'regetting into hydraulics. And you
know, the students are soengaged and the resilient, they
don't want to give up to figureout how to connect the circuit
or design one, which is greatfor teachers to see. They take
that final in the fall semesterfor the soccer 102, and then we
switch back to mind's eye, andthis time we do the drones. And

(08:41):
in the past years, I ran thedrones, but I just felt it
dragged too much, becausethey're all waiting for one cage
to fly. Okay? So it created thisbig, long bottleneck, so to
speak, right? A manufacturingterm bottleneck, very much. So,
yes, I introduced the automatedcan crusher project from
amatrol, which is majority ofthe equipment that we use are
from amateral, and it gave thekids an opportunity to apply

(09:03):
what they have learned in thefirst two years. So at half the
kids do the drones, half thekids the can crusher, and at the
quarter they switch. So let's

take just a really quick breath here, and I
want you to continue, because Iknow we're not quite done with
the pathway, but just to unpacka little bit of what you've
already told me, because whatyou just said is fascinating to
me and launches into a wholebunch of other just inquiries
and questions. So you said thatthe second course is an honors
course. Did I hear that? Right?
That's correct. I'll be honestwith you, and I love the sound
of that. A lot of folks, whenthey think about traditional
career and technical educationdon't think about that as

(09:32):
necessarily being an honorscourse. But in your case, it is.
So talk about thatdifferentiation. So yes,

as I mentioned earlier, the program was brought
in to be a high quality CTEprogram. And we want to attract,
obviously, the kids who arethinking of going the career
technical education pathway. Butat the same time, if I have
somebody that wants to go to afour year college or become an
engineer, this is an amazingclass for them. I mean, just
look at all the hands onexperience they are going to
gain. And I don't want them to.
To miss out because it's a nonhonors course, because these

(10:01):
kids tend to care a lot abouttheir GPAs. I know I did when I
was in high school, right? Forsure, the entry level one, we
just kept it non honors, justnot to scare anybody. But even
those kids went in and they justcontinued on, especially knowing
that it was honors, but it'ssomething that was definitely on
my mind. And I mean, thecurriculum can be a little bit
challenging, for sure, but wewant to make sure they're
prepared for it as

well. That is so awesome. It ties back to another
question that I had fromsomething you said previously,
which was talking about studentshaving, you know, kind of a
choice between four year andmore of a career and technical
education. I admit I bristle alittle bit when I hear that, and
I know that was the old version,right, and not the new version.
But it's like, Wait a minute.
This to the point that you justmade, which is hands on learning
on things like robotics,automation, mechatronics, smart

(10:45):
technology, that's not limitedto any one group of students,
and that should be presented toall of them. I'm going to say
that's the first time I've heardabout a tech ed program being an
honors program in a high school.
Is that unique? Is thatsomething you see in California
at

our school, even though, you know, it's a title
one school, and we do push forour CTE courses to have the
second and if they have a thirdyear to be honors, I don't want
to push the kids who want to betake honors classes from a
program like this, because anamazing thing, and they're going
to graduate with so much moreknowledge than Just a class

(11:21):
where all they're getting isjust a lecture, maybe some
paper, problem solving theory.
This is hands on. It reallymakes them work harder and
second guess themselvessometime. I totally love

that, and I'm a huge, huge believer in that. And
also, I don't want to get toodeep in the weeds, but so many
examples that we hear ofstudents that you know went on
to, for example, four yearengineering programs, but they
did it through a more of astandard, typical CTE pathway,
and then they get to college,and they've got so much more of
a context for what it is thatthey're doing post high school,
versus the student, to yourpoint, that just kind of learned

(11:54):
out of a book and in a lecture.
And I mean, there's all kinds ofways to learn, and we certainly
don't want to diminish anysingle one of them, but I love
the way that you're talkingabout this. So I want to give
you an opportunity to kind ofcontinue on the pathway. I will
just go back to you mentionedamatell as well, for any of our
audience members that may not befamiliar with that company, just
a quick couple of sentences onwho they are.

Amateral, to me, they're a curriculum company
that also happens to maketrainers that students can work
on. And it really what got mehooked on the program, this is
when I saw the amateur all elearning. I knew this is what I
wanted to do, because I feltwhomever started designing the E
learning there really hit it onthe nail, especially for the Gen
Z. When you go through thecurriculum yourself, you'll

(12:34):
notice that one page doesn'thave too much information, so
capturing that shorter attentionspan, it's interactive. There's
animation. It can read the textfor those who might struggle
with the English language orjust reading. And we're talking
about tier three, very contentspecific vocabulary, the fact
that the vocabulary ishyperlink, so you don't know
what it is, you can look it up,sure. And then the other part is

(12:55):
the skills, the hands on, skillsthat go with every lesson. They
build up and become morechallenging. And to me, that was
a again, I'm like, Okay, this iswhat I want to do. I want to
teach this full time. What do Ineed to do? Is I actually went
and got my CTE credential afterso I can teach this just full
time, and I just do the math inthe summer. Now,

yeah, I love that. And so are you in? If I'm
familiar with amateur there's,you know, you can do, like a one
to many or a traditionallecture. You can use the E
learning it you do a hybridcombination. How are you
delivering the curriculum itselfbefore they do the hands

on? What I used to do, I used to lecture, and I
would lose some kids, because nokid wants to just hear some one
person speak the whole time. Andthen, going back to that soccer
training that I did in LasVegas, I actually met a person
who gentleman named Joe Russo,who used to be a teacher in
California and taught a verysimilar program, pre soccer, and

(13:45):
he shared how he taught it, andhe taught an amateur program
called industry 4.0fundamentals, I believe, sure,
which is very similar to thesoccer 101 and 102 and that just
completely gave me clarity. AndI'm like, Okay, I like the
station rotation. I love this.
Every kid is doing somethingdifferent. It created more work
up front for me in the summer,but it made my year a lot
smoother. I really enjoyed howkids were learning a little bit

(14:08):
of everything in that firstyear, because they're not
getting bored with just onesubject. And they're
experimenting. They're learning.
What is it I like more? Is itthe AC, DC? Is it the
pneumatics? I really like theElectrical Relay, you know, I
like the robot programming andso on. It just really provided
clarity for me and allowed me torun my program much better. You
know, this was my moment, my ahamoment, so to speak. Yeah, I

(14:30):
love

that. Well, we're on the topic of introducing some
of the partners that you have. Iknow there's a yellow robot over
your shoulder there, as I'mseeing you on video. I know my
friend Mike Chico happens to bethe CEO of the company that
produced that robot, and wouldbe disappointed in me if I
didn't ask about that. Mike'sbeen on the podcast four times.
By the way, you're in greatcompany, but tell us about your
partnership with FANUC, which Iassume is part of this as well.

It is, and that actually leads us to that third
year so it can answer twoquestions at the same time.
Perfect. When I first walkedinto the classroom, we only had
the Delta robot, and I didn'tknow what to do with it. I
started. Asking our partners,what can I do to teach FANUC? So
I had to go. It was duringCOVID. I did everything virtual.
Yeah, all right. I becamecertified, and a year or so ago,
we bought the alarm mate behindme. But our third year class, I

(15:13):
call it industrial automation,and it is just honors as well.
The first semester, we focus onthe handling tool, programming
and operations. We use Roboguide, obviously, because I only
have two robots in the class and20 kids, so I need a not a great
ratio, but they're a littleexpensive, but Robo guide makes
them really, really good,because they're not afraid to
make mistakes. They're not goingto break an expensive machine.

(15:35):
That's the simulation software.
Yeah, okay, Robo guide does anamazing job, if you've used it
before, of literally lookinglike a real robot, but it's
building that self efficacy forstudents. Sure they do the lab,
oh, it works. I can do this now.
When they jump on the realthing, they feel 10 times more
comfortable. And then the secondsemester, we focus on the vision
package. And then that reallyblows their mind. How can a

(15:57):
camera locate apart and it'srandomly somewhere they sell and
go and pick it up. I do preparethem in that third year for the
soccer 103, which is the robotsystem operations. And then
right now, actually, this week,today was day two of their nocti
fanic certification. Sure,absolutely.

I was with Ann Gilchrist from NACD last week,
as a matter of fact. So I knowthat organization, while third
party certification body, thatis doing a lot of great work, as
is the smart automationcertification Alliance. You've
mentioned a number of times, andso just hearing how you're
integrating this maroon I wouldlove to hear a little bit about
your relationship with soccer.
You've mentioned that a fewtimes. Thank Jim wall, who's the
executive director, is a formerguest on The TechEd Podcast. So

(16:36):
our audience, who've beenlistening a while, are familiar
with with Jim, but just give usa quick overview, if you would,
of what SAC is all about and howyou're using it in your program.

So as you mentioned earlier, it's the
smart automation certificationAlliance, and it's a it's a
nonprofit third partycertification platform, and I
think what really sold me on itis the fact that the
certifications, or the contentand the standards were put
together by subject matterexperts and industry
professionals. I want to say notteachers. I know I'm a teacher,

(17:07):
but I'm not an expert ineverything things, right? So I
think I like that fact. I alsolike the fact that it was
membership based versus pay perexam, so the student, if they
don't pass a test, they canretake it. And in real life,
that's how it is. If you don'tpass your DMV test, you can
retake it, sure, along manyother things. But to me, when it

(17:29):
was introduced to me, it was ano brainer. I was like, Okay, so
now you got students in highschool who may only graduate
with a high school diploma andmaybe nothing else. We don't
know what they're going to doright after school? Maybe they
go to college, maybe not. Nowthey have this opportunity to
get a piece of paper thatcertifies them. I know this
product, or I even the betterthe gold. I know how to use it.

(17:51):
I know how to do it. I know howto troubleshoot it, and that
gives them that EmployabilitySkill.

Got it you mentioned the gold. Make sure
the audience understands whatyou mean when you say the gold.
Absolutely

So saca has two levels. There's a silver level
and a gold level. And the silverlevel is the written exam, you
know, assessing a student'sknowledge on the content the
gold a little bit more special,because you can only be assessed
on the gold if you have past thesilver. And the instructor also
has to be gold certified andalso have the proper equipment.
So the gold is a depending onwhich certification can be one

(18:25):
or more hands on assessment,allowing kids to troubleshoot,
allowing them to applyeverything that they've learned
in that year with on thoseassessments. And I, the way I
sell it to the kids, I go thesilver tells an employer, you
know it, but the goal tellsthem, you know how to do it. I
love that. And the beauty aboutthat, I was doing a career
lesson with students. And Idon't know if you're familiar

(18:45):
with ONET Online. What's itcalled? I'm not sure how ONET
Online. So it's a, I believeit's a government ran website,
labor statistics. You can lookat any job that you want. And I
was doing a career project withthe kids, find out what you
like, take the couple ofpersonality tests, look up the
job, see what you need,education wise, what it pays.

(19:06):
And one of the links on theresays certifications. And my
students like, Hey, Mr. Namie,it says saka, right there. They
were excited to see it, becausethey're like, Okay, you're to
teach that to something. Andit's, you're right. It is, you
know, needed out there. So thatwas really, really exciting when
they saw that.

I love that story, and it's just an example
of a making that connection, sothat the students actually see
the certification that they'reearning while they're in high
school is reflected on a websitethat's indicating that that's
what employers are looking for.
We'll be sure, assuming that's apublic website, we'll link that
up in the show notes for theaudience. So check that out
there. That's really, reallycool. The other thing I think
that's fascinating, is how youwent into this discussion around

(19:42):
the certifications being backedby industry. And one of the
things that we never want tooffend a teacher, because we've
got a lot of teachers that areyourself included, amazing
subject matter experts really,really understand this
technology. But the truth of thematter is, if we're preparing.
Students for careers. What'seven more important than what a
teacher expects is what theindustrial employers are going

(20:04):
to expect when those studentsget to industry and they're
ready to take that first job,or, for that matter, take those
certifications and maybe go onto whether it's a two year
educational institution or afour year and get credit for
that prior learning. Really,really important, but also
important that thosecertifications are created by
industrial employers forstudents, so that they're aware
that the competencies thatthey're gaining and the things

(20:26):
that they're earning are goingto have relevance when they get
to industry. So talk just for amoment about that. You know,
what is the reaction many ofyour students, in addition to
the story you tell about thesecertifications that they're
earning, you

have your what I call the achievers, they want to
earn anything thrown at them. Sosome do that just to have
another notch on their belt oranother certificate, which they
know they're smart, they know itlooks great on their resume,
whether they go into that fieldor not. And I tell the kids who
are looking to go intoengineering, you may not be a
technician, but you willprobably be an engineer, and

(20:58):
you're going to gain this handson knowledge, and having these
certifications is going toimprove your chances of getting
employed or getting into acollege of your choice. And then
you have the students who arelooking to go directly into the
workforce or maybe go to a tradeschool. So for them, they see a
lot of value. I talk about boththe soccer and the FANUC
certifications. The best part isthey're the one who found it on

(21:20):
that website. Oh, net, yeah. Sothey're not just blowing smoke.
This is really making it up.
These are required, and we'vetaken them out on field trips,
and they see industry. They seethese same exact robots behind
me. Went to an aerospaceindustry making bearings for the
aerospace it was maybe 2030alarm mates, feeding C and C,
awesome. Yeah. FANUC robots. Ilove that. Yeah. We recently
took him to a UTI universalTechnical Institute. Sure, one

(21:41):
of my students, who was actuallythe very first kid in the very
first class of the program, likeright when I took it over, he
graduated two years ago. He waswait listed at one of our Cal
States here, went to communitycollege, then reached out to me
through Instagram. I said, Mr.
Name it. I need something. I gotto get into this field. So I
told them about UTI, which put abrand new robotics program in

(22:03):
one of the closer campuses tous. We took a field trip out
there. We saw him. They gotfanix, they got tabletop
Mechatronics from Amma trial.
They have all sorts ofequipment. And He's almost done
with the program. He's more thanhalfway through. And then he
told our students, he goes, Ijust applied to a job level one
technician, $50 an hour. Wow. SoI really, I'm like, Okay, you
got a 20 year old kid makingmore than a teacher five years

(22:26):
teaching with a masters.

Well, let's do the math. I mean, $50 an hour.
You know, that's, that's$100,000 plus job for a student
is 20 years old. That's insane.

Level one, entry, level two, right? I mean that,
yeah,

exactly. And the sky's the sky's the limit for
that student, right? So as theycontinue to gain even more
skills, and as opportunitiescreate themselves in that
employer, I mean, they're goingto be exponentially growing
their income and and that is oneof the messages that you know, I
can say that over and over andover again as a former
industrial employer, as someonewho spends a lot of time in the
education space now about peoplejust not understanding the

(23:00):
incredible opportunitiesavailable in advanced
manufacturing for students, andfind if you want to go get a
four year engineering degree orstudy beyond that, nothing wrong
with that, but you don't haveto, if you don't want to, if
school is not your thing andyou're more comfortable getting
into the workforce, you don'thave to start at the bottom.
Here's a student that you know,20 years old, making that kind
of money. I just I absolutelylove those kind of examples.

(23:21):
That's absolutely perfect. Ilove the way you're bringing
this to your students as well.
Maroon as you know, you and Iwere just talking as we were
warming up for the show that wemet each other for the first
time in person in San Antonio. Ithink it was at the end of last
year we both were at the sameconference. But be honest with
you, when you walked up and saidhello, I felt like I already
knew you, because you're allover social media. You're always
telling these the same kind ofstories you're telling today.

(23:44):
You're telling stories aboutyour students. You're really
broadcasting to the entire worldthe great things that are going
on there at Buena Park HighSchool. And so I wanted to just
talk a little bit about yoursocial media presence. What
platforms are you on? Let'sstart with that. I see you on
LinkedIn. That's where I spendmost of my time. A little bit on
some other ones. But which onesdo you want tell us that

so LinkedIn, I am as myself, maroon Amy, and I
share things about my studentsfor the program itself. I
started I want to see it onTwitter about three years ago.
Or, okay, yep, it got sometraction, but my audience is not
that much on Twitter. So, likeindustry might be, but almost
everybody's on Instagram thesedays. So a few months after
that, I started an Instagramaccount, and when I make a post

(24:27):
on both, I probably get 10 timesreaction on Instagram the day.
They don't X interesting, do youreally? Yeah, so we're on both,
and the handle is the same forboth. So if somebody wants to
look us up, and I recommend thatyou do, I'm not trying to gain
more followers, but I think youmight find no please. Really fun
stuff that the students aredoing the class. So the handle
is at B, P, h, S, underscore,arm. So bueno parks, High

(24:49):
School. Underscore arm, as in myshirt, advanced robotics, yeah,

ar, M, Yep, yeah, cool. And we'll make sure that's
in the show notes as well. So itsounds like, yeah, absolutely.
Instagram. What's now? X. Andwhen are we going to stop saying
X, formerly known as Twitter,right? People are still saying
that it's like, Okay, I think wegot it,

yeah. I think it just weird to say it's what's on
X, like, what's x, what? Yeah,

now we know, right? Yeah, in LinkedIn. So
we'll make sure we pointeverybody to both the high
school and to you individuallyon those platforms, so they can
follow the great things, as Idid, and continue to do that are
happening in your classroom andbeyond for your students. So
when did you start this wholeidea of sharing all this on
social when

I took over the program and I met with my
principal, he gave me a task is,I want you to grow the program.
I didn't have any directions. Itwas a very, very unique program.
There was nothing like it in thedistrict. The closest one
geographically was about an hourplus away driving, and that's
the program that Joe Russo hadleft, and then another teacher
was teaching it, and I'm goodfriends with her. We always
talk, because she's my closestPLC person. Okay, I just did

(25:48):
what I know how to do, andthat's using my experience in
sales. I know how to growsomething. And like I said
earlier, I'm not afraid of whatI don't know. And I think that
also gained me a lot of trustwith student. I was very
transparent. The same kid whoapplied for the 50 hour dollar
job, always remind me, goes Mr.
Name, and when you first walkedin, I was scared because you
said, I know nothing aboutrobotics, but you turned this
into, like, this amazingprogram. You got a certified and

(26:11):
I don't know how you did it, butyou did it. So it's, you know,
great to hear that as a teacher,obviously, as an educator. But
my goal, I wanted to do threethings with this. Number one,
let the students get noticed,let their achievements and the
actual work that they're doingin the classroom get noticed by
parents, by admin, and even byindustry, local industry. I try

(26:32):
to reach out to industry. And ifyou've been in the classroom,
you know your time is limited bythe time I'm out of here,
everybody's gone home, sure. Sothat was one way to connect with
them and let them see it, notjust hear it from me. And I'm
sure when they get an email froma teacher, we're probably at the
bottom of their email list,because we're not another
prospect. So it was a great wayto do it, and the feedback was

(26:52):
great. I remember the firstcouple of months we were on x
the city of Bonaparte, one ofthe councilmen saw what the
students are doing. They sawthese soccer certifications that
see our success with skills. USAreached out to me and invited
about 25 of my students, all ofthose who have earned something
for a city hall meeting, andthey received a ton of
certificates of recognition.

(27:14):
That's awesome, amazing for themand their families. You know,
they all got dressed up and cameout there just to get that kind
of recognition. And it was areally nice moment for them and
for myself as well, to see themreceive these things. So

are other educators now picking up on
that? I mean, when you get thatkind of a recognition from your
local politicians and from yourlocal council, what have you,
I've got to believe other highschools are looking at this and
saying, How can we do somethingsimilar? Are you getting
questions like that? Sometimes

I see some that are popping up, they've seen my
success or have heard about it.
You know, I've always had asupportive admin and district
here, but it was last year,during CTE month in February, I
was recognized in the districtand received an award. So
congratulations. Thank you. Theysee it. They know about the
success of the program, and moreand more new accounts I see pop
up in our district, and I'mexcited about that. I'm willing
to help them, because I thinkthe more programs like this

(28:02):
there are, the better it's gonnabe for everybody. It's still
very unique, but we're seeingmore of it around here.

That's so terrific. And I love the way, by
the way, that you engage yourstudents, and you feature your
students in your social mediaactivity. I mean, it's just that
is the way for me to connect toyou know, it's one thing to hear
a teacher, it's another thing tosee a piece of equipment, I
mean, and that's all great, andnot taking anything away from
that. But when you look at thetwinkle in the eye of a student
that's holding a soccercertification, and you just see

(28:31):
that level of pride that youcan't pose that in a picture,
that's a genuine sense that thatstudent has, it absolutely
provides that message to anybodythat volunteers or works in and
around technical education thatthat work is worth it. When you
feature students like that, Whatdo your students think when you
publicize the great work thatthey're doing and the things
that they're learning and thecertifications that they're

(28:52):
earning in the classroom, theyactually

want it, so obviously the certification you
have to earn it to get thatrecognition for sure. Yeah, but
then others want to demonstratetheir work, whether if they
programmed UGV to driveautonomously, or they operated
or mechatronic station, or anyof the robots behind me, they
want to be on there, like, areyou going to put me on
Instagram? That's awesome. Ithink for them, it's similar to

(29:14):
the way I use Facebook. I'm notso much on social media myself,
personally, sure, but I useFacebook to post things about,
and I say pictures of my ownkids, so families that I have
around the world can see them.
And I think this is for them toshare their success with family
members that may not be able tocome down and see it in the
classroom

and in a way that adds credibility to the work,
right? Because it's like a thirdparty that's featuring them. And
so the students are whether it'stheir family members, whether
it's their friends, people thatthey're interacting with in the
community now see them asearning these certifications,
and understand, I think, becauseof the work that you're doing
and explaining the value ofthose certifications, what went
into earning that and then thepathway that the student can be

(29:53):
on as a result of holding thosecertifications that you're so
instrumental in helping themearn, and then they can take
credit for it, since. Thinkingof taking credit. I know you had
a student who I want to givecredit to, created a whole video
around some of this stuff and soand again, we know that because
we follow you and we know thework you're doing. Tell the
story about that video,

one of the things that inspired me to do this is,
again, the program is called,you know, advanced robotics and
mechatronics. And I think a lotof people stop at the word
robotics, and they have adifferent vision of what the
classroom is. They think maybemostly like the mind's eye
stuff, or Vex, if they did Vexin middle school. And those are
great things, but this programis a lot more and a lot more

(30:32):
that can lead you to a greatcareer, a lucrative one as well,
right? So I wanted to reallyfocus on the advanced
manufacturing side of it tellthe story. And I figured what
best way to do it from astudent's perspective?
Obviously, I was interviewed,because I have to explain some
of the other things. We got ourprincipal involved, right? I
asked the students, and thestudent who did it, his name is
Robbie. He's a capstone studentright now, third year I've had

(30:52):
him, he's also in our videoproduction. And he said, Well, I
have experience, because I go,I'm not an editor. I can barely
videotape well, even though mywife trains me, but, you know,
still not that good at it. We'reonly so trainable, right?
Exactly. But he brought in thecamera, he worked many days, and
came in and took differentshots, interviewed a few
students, put the whole videotogether himself, and then

(31:13):
showed it to me. And I was like,Oh, this is pretty amazing, a
lot more, a lot better than Icertainly would have done. And
then we decided to publish itand make it public on YouTube
and hopefully share it with asmany people as possible. Maybe
it inspires other school systemsto create something like this,
other educators or otherstudents to enroll in our
program here.

I love a few things that you just said there.
You know, the first one istalking about, and you mentioned
VEX Robotics, and I love VEXRobotics, and it's a great way
for getting younger studentsexcited about these kind of
technologies. First Robotics isbig in the Midwest. Here, we
actually sponsor, personally, anumber of FIRST robotics teams,
because I love what students arelearning in those endeavors as
well. But let's be honest, thereis no like job in FIRST

(31:54):
Robotics, right? I'm not.
Nobody's hiring anybody to goout and build, you know, maybe
if you're working for somehumanoid robot company or
whatever, but there aren't a lotof folks that are going out.
Yeah, exactly. If you're workingfor Battle Bots, there's a job
there, but there's a lot morepeople needed to program
industrial robots, to understandmechatronics, to build programs
and PLCs, to write in ladderlogic, to understand pneumatics

(32:15):
and hydraulic circuits. That'swhere the jobs are right? And so
we have to graduate,figuratively at some point, from
the first robotics programs,which are amazing, and at least
in parallel, if not thereafter,get students into training.
That's actually going to lead toa job, and that's exactly what
you're doing. Am I hearing thatright? Like we can take this
inspiration that comes fromfirst or from Vex and then

(32:38):
translate that into real worldskills and technologies that are
going to lead to opportunitiesafter high school? Is that kind
of the idea absolutely

and there's a reason why. In my first year, I
do the suck up before the mind'seye, okay? Because during the
mind's eye, they are going tohave to do some print reading,
sure, during the mind's eye,they have to use a digital multi
meter. During mines are theyhave to take some measurements
during mind's eye. They have tounderstand mechanical advantage.
And I know they want to jumpinto the car first, because

(33:09):
that's usually, that's what theysign up for. But I go, you need
to have that knowledge before.
So it makes a lot more sensewhen you apply it. And I say the
same thing you just said. Isaid, Look, you're not going to
go out there and build maybe ifyou work for NASA, work on
perseverance, or our next Marsrover right at two theme parks
next to us. Guess how theseroller coasters operate on PLCs?

That's awesome.
My daughter and I, every year goto we have a Six Flags Great
America about an hour from ourhouse, and we can't we have this
tradition of every August and wego get a great America. And I
actually, a couple years ago, aswe were going through, I took
pictures of all the PLCs, allthe mechanical drives, all the
fluid power circuits, all thatstuff at an amusement park. And
it sounds like you're using thatsame example with your students

(33:49):
of look at all these differenttechnologies, very, very cool.
So let me ask you this part.
You're making all this noise.
You're on social mediaexplaining all the great things
that you're doing. Your studentsare getting credit for it.
They're making their own videosabout your program. Really cool.
We talked about what you'rehearing from, for example, this
city council member. I talkedabout what you're hearing from
your students and employers. Howabout parents? How about

(34:10):
administrators? Talk about whatyou're hearing from those folks.
Well,

parents love the program, beginning to get
brothers and sisters comethrough. Now, even though we've
only been here, you know, fouror five years, my wife, on the
other hand, she's been teaching25 years. She's getting kids of
her of students now, that'sawesome. Yeah, I got a long way
to go, but the parents love theprogram again, regardless of
which pathway their kids aregoing. I think they like how
engaged you could tell that thekids are going home and telling

(34:35):
their parents what they'redoing. And as a parent, that's
what you want to hear from. Youwant to know what your students
are doing in school, right? Soyou're probably not going to
share today, and I love math,but you might not share, oh, I
learned about the Pythagoreantheorem, the parent, right? When
I hear about that, I'm the typeof parent that would because I
love math, but when you'retelling them, oh, today, you
know, I made a car drive byitself, right? Today, I
programmed the machine. I used ascreen to operate a

(34:58):
manufacturing machine. So. Theadmin. Love the program because
obviously it makes the schoolvery attractive, and it really
feeds into the vision that ourprincipal has. We call this a
destination school, not justfrom the CTE programs, but also
from athletics and academics andeven our performing arts. So it
is definitely great for theschool and the district. And
again, I just always put it backon the students, really the ones

(35:21):
who have helped get this programwhere it's at with their
engagement. And I pull them. Ipull them every year, so I keep
improving the program again. I'mgoing to go back. I came in here
not really knowing what to do.
So what's the best way to do itis to pull your audience and
figure out how to keep improvingthis.

I get the question all the time, well, how
do we win the hearts of parentswhen we talk about careers in
advanced manufacturing, I tellpeople, I've seen everything.
The best way to do it is to winit through their kids. Every
parent, we talk about this allthe time on the podcast, I
wanted two things for my kids. Iwanted, number one for you to
find your way into a careerwhatever comes after high
school. Make it count for acareer that you're going to find

(35:59):
fulfilling, that you're going toenjoy, and that is going to
support the lifestyle that youwant. And number two,
regardless, you're not comingback and living in the basement,
and, oh, by the way, it'sactually in the opposite order.
Number one, you're not comingback and live in the basement.
Number two, I hope you enjoyyour job. But the truth of the
matter is that what you reallywant for your students, or for
your kids, I should say, is forthem to be happy and fulfilled
and content and to be on a, youknow, on a pathway that they

(36:21):
find valuable. And the truth ofthe matter is that if you have a
student that goes home and sitsat the dinner table and talks
about programming a robot, talksabout building a PLC program,
talks about visiting amanufacturing employer, talks
about earning a certification,then the parent starts to see
the excitement and theenthusiasm on the face of their
kids, that is how you get aparent excited about advanced

(36:42):
manufacturing. You seen it thesame way I do.

And I think one of the ways I like to get the kids
involved and I do is the way wedo different events, like open
house or recruiting events. It'sa lot of work. We they give me
the whole small gym. We takeprobably two thirds of the
equipment I have in here. We doit there, and I have a student
representing each station, andthe best compliment I received
was from one of our Englishteacher. He goes maroon students

(37:06):
are the best salespeople. Well,when you're passionate about
something, you don't have totry, you know, just gonna talk
about it. And those kids bringtheir parents, and then the
middle school kids come, themiddle school teachers come, and
they get to see my students talkabout it, not me, and see the
passion in their eyes. And thatalone sells the program. Yeah,
for

sure, we in the in the sales world, and I spent
a lot of time there. We call itthird party selling. I can try
and sell something all day long,but if somebody that somebody
trusts and believes sends thesame message, it's totally,
totally different in terms ofsending messages. What message
would you have maroon for othereducators who are either trying
to promote their program ortrying to get a program like
you're started, what are the fewthings they should be thinking

(37:47):
about? I

think in the beginning, if it's a brand new
program like this one, it'squite a bit of work. It's quite
a bit of work. Obviously, ifsomebody comes with more
knowledge than I did, it makesit easier. But I think today you
have to use social media forkids. If it didn't happen on
social media, it didn't happen.
Obviously we have to be aware ofall the fake stuff, but if
you're using social media, keepthe focus on the students, what
they're doing, what they'reachieving, not so much about

(38:11):
yourself. I mean, you could sayone thing or another here and
there, but the majority of itshould be on the students,
because that's what the parentswants to see, that's what the
community wants to see. Andthen, you know, other students
want to see, right? So studentswant to see. And then you know,
you're doing your part ofelevating that community because
of what they're learning here.
And stakeholders take note.

Yep, absolutely so, so sending that message, I
love the idea of focusing on thestudents, and that, frankly, is
what caught my eye. In all thework that you're doing, we see a
lot of posts of like I said,equipment, classrooms, those
kind of things. But when you seea student that their eyes are
lit up because they're inspiredabout what could be, and that's
really the magic that a teacherworks, whether it's in the
classroom or in the lab. That'sthe real value of a teacher

(38:53):
instructor, and that's whatabsolutely sells the program. So
I feel like I could sit here andmaroon all day and ask you
questions. You're doing so manyinnovative things. You know,
unfortunately, we only have somuch time here on The TechEd
Podcast, so we're gonna wrap uphere with just a couple of
questions, or questions we loveposing to every one of our
guests, and so I'm reallycurious to hear your answers.
The first one is, we all haveour own education journey. I

(39:15):
certainly had mine. I won't borethe audience again with it,
because they hear it almostevery week, but then they know
what it is. But we all have ourown journey, and we all come
through education having somecertain opinions about it or
views that might surprise otherpeople. What are some of yours?
What's something that wouldsurprise others about your
paradigm or your belief abouteducation? I

feel, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, that our
education system just needs amajor reform. I feel like we've
been teaching the same thingsince the Industrial Revolution,
through the nuclear race and theSpace Age race. And not that
those things are not important,math and English and all that.
They're very, very important.
But we need to have studentsready to be employed. We need to
have them be financiallyresponsible. One thing I'm

(39:56):
really big on. They need. Getout of high school knowing and
be very comfortable using AIrather than keep slapping the
risk. You know, don't use AI.
And I encourage my students. Igo, here is how to use it.
Here's how I use it, because Ithink we're gonna fail them. You
know, we need to teach for theirfuture, not the present, because

(40:17):
the present is not their future,exactly. And I think the other
part that surprises people is,when I was in high school, I
never took a CTE course. I know,shame on me, but I wanted
everything honors. I was tryingto get the high GPA, top rank of
my class, and I had a, you know,a very interesting journey, but
I sit in front of my studentsand I tell them, I wouldn't be
standing in front of you if Ididn't go to college. But it's

(40:38):
not the only answer. And I go,it could be, and it doesn't have
to be immediately after highschool. What if you can take
these certifications, get a goodjob, make yourself valuable, and
now maybe that company willactually pay for your education,
because they see value in you,and now you're getting out debt
free experience, and you alreadyhave made quite a bit of money,
and you're going to be ahead ofthe curve.

All of that was really, really insightful, I
think, in the whole idea ofteaching applied artificial
intelligence, which, by the way,as you know, your students are
already learning in your course,because, you know, you think
about the technology you'reputting them in touch with,
whether it's smart sensors anddevices, control systems, data
sets, the robot behind you willpredict its own future failure
and order its own replacementparts using AI, if you'll Let it

(41:21):
so really, really cool ways toteach applied artificial
intelligence, you and I agree weabsolutely have to be using it
and teaching it in theclassroom. It still blows my
mind that there are some schoolsthat are trying to figure out
how to prohibit it and try andlock it out. And it's like,
yeah, good luck with that. So100% agree on that particular
observation. And then secondly,this whole idea that, yes, there
should be students going to fouryear universities, but making

(41:43):
sure. And to me, it's just allabout awareness and not having
any judgment around what thosechoices are right. So if four
year university is right foryou, you go do that. That's
awesome. But technical college,community college, military
service, direct to workforce. Imean, there's just, you know,
other certifications you canearn post secondary. There's so
many ways to build a competencyportfolio for the future and to

(42:05):
show in a future employer whatyou're capable of doing.
University is one way, but it'snot the only way. And for a lot
of students, it's not even thebest way. There's other ways,
based upon how they learn orwhat their life goals are, that
they can achieve those goalswithout a four year degree. So I
love the way you characterizethat time. For one last question
sure for maroon Navy, and thatquestion is this, it's another

(42:26):
one we ask every single guest onThe TechEd Podcast. We invite
them to go back in time and goback to that that time when they
were 15 years old, the sophomorein high school their whole life
ahead of them. If they couldgive that person one piece of
advice, what would that piece ofadvice be?

That's a tough one. I mean, part of me wants to
say nothing, because if Ialtered anything, I wouldn't be
who I am right now. But let megive an answer, and I preach
this in my class, as much asI've loved math and technology
and stem I cannot stress enoughhow important the ability to
communicate and communicate.
Well, be out there. Talk toother people. Stop being so shy,

(43:01):
put yourself out there, becauseyou need to learn how to
communicate with your coworkers. You need to learn how
to communicate with your bosses,with your subordinates. You need
the communication is key and inrelationship. You know, I've
been married, what, 16 yearsnow, and I had the students the
other day. Goes, What's thesecret to a long marriage? I go
honestly, if you communicate,you have to communicate, but
it's hard because I have a 15year old who's a sophomore,

(43:23):
right? You know, he's actuallyway more personable than I was
when I was his age. So I'm happyto see that, and my wife is
happy he can talk to anybody,adult peers. But I definitely
highly recommend myself to havedone that a bit earlier

as we record this, I celebrated my wedding
anniversary 28 years, as amatter of fact, congratulations,
ago. So I certainly recognizethe importance of communication
and in a relationship. Noquestion about that, and that
whole idea and the ability tocommunicate, whether that's
written communication, verbalcommunication, communication, on
social media, whatever it isthat ability to communicate with
others, build those bonds,explain and defend what it is

(43:59):
you believe in and what it isyou're doing super, super
important. I think that'sabsolutely terrific advice for
any 15 year old. And on thetopic of communication, you've
done just a wonderful job,maroon On this episode, of
communicating the incrediblevalue that you're adding to your
students, communicating to themin the classroom and showing
that there's a lot of differentways to learn, that hands on,
learning is really important.
The value of third partycertifications, and then all the

(44:22):
ways that you're telling yourstudents stories and sharing
this with the world. I'm gladthat you agreed to do this on
The TechEd Podcast as well, withus to communicate to the world
all the great things that arehappening there at Buena Park
High School. Thank you so muchfor being with us. Thank

you both very much, and I appreciate the
opportunity to be here and sharemy story even more,

absolutely, really, really appreciate you
doing that, and appreciate theaudience being with us as well.
On this episode of The TechEdPodcast, we had a number of
different resources that came upover the course of this episode,
not the least of which is thatwebsite on which the students
found the certifications thatthey were earning and recognize
the incredible value of. Thosecertifications. We will link all
of that up on the show notes.
You'll find those show noteswhich, by the way, are the best

(45:05):
in the business at TechEdpodcast.com/name me, I'll spell
that for you. TechEdpodcast.com/n e, H, M, E, when
you are done there, we talkedall about social media here as
well. We talked about LinkedIn,we talked about Instagram, we
talked about xe, we talked toit. We didn't, but we did talk

(45:27):
about LinkedIn. I don't knowthat we talked a ton about
Facebook, although I believethat came up as well. All of
those platforms are where youwill also find The TechEd
Podcast. So while you're there,interact with us. Let us know
you're out there. Tell us whatyou think. We would love to hear
from you, and we would love tosee you again next week on The
TechEd Podcast. Thank you somuch for joining us. I'm Matt

(45:47):
Kirkner. You.

All Episodes

How to Build & Grow an Industry-Aligned CTE Program - Maroun Nehme, Director of Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics at BPHS

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

24/7 News: The Latest

Crime Junkie

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}How to Build & Grow an Industry-Aligned CTE Program - Maroun Nehme, Director of Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics at BPHS