Education & Workforce Development

Jennifer Ribotti (Roque) is an environmental project engineer based in Tetra Tech’s Orlando, Florida, office. She supports municipal water, reclaimed water, and wastewater infrastructure projects and worked on the first direct potable reuse (DPR) pilot project in Florida to produce drinking water from wastewater. The purified water produced was used to create craft beers that were distributed at the 31st Annual WateReuse Symposium in Tampa, Florida. She also worked on a water treatment plant expansion project in Eagle Pass, Texas, a border community along the Rio Grande river.

With its 2018 Growing Healthy Kids Campaign, Whole Kids Foundation aims to raise $3 million to fund K-12-focused programs in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. that are working to create a deeper connection between kids and food. The foundation’s goal will allow it to grant 620 edible educational gardens, 450 salad bars in schools, and support healthy teacher programs and educational bee programs.

We often talk of a time where our IT workforce is diverse, with equal representation and opportunity. A time where people of all backgrounds, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic status have the opportunities, the skills, the pathways to develop life-long careers and succeed in our digital economy.

The Paper and Packaging Board’s 15 Pages A Day campaign, which promotes reading on paper and illustrates the benefits of reading 15 pages each day, has recently made its way to classroom curricula around the country. Through a partnership with Young Minds Inspired (YMI), the Paper and Packaging Board is promoting a classroom reading goal of 15 pages every day.

In its first year of operation, DXC Technology has adopted sustainable, forward-thinking business practices to drive positive social, economic and environmental outcomes.

The Verizon Innovative Learning program is in its second summer at Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, VA. It's one of 16 locations around the country focused on getting middle school girls in rural communities excited about careers in STEM. Between summer intensives, students meet monthly for field trips and to hone their skills. It’s all part of the Verizon Innovative Learning mission to provide free technology, free internet access and hands-on learning experiences to help underserved students get the education they deserve.

The Curiosity Cube made a stop at the Milton Library Saturday. The Curiosity Cube was created with the goal to inspire children with hands-on science to children. MilliporeSigma, a life-science company with a facility in Oakville, created the cube by converting a 22x10-foot shipping container into a mobile science lab.

Through our work developing strategic partnerships that engage business professionals to create positive community change, we see two major STEM education challenges that skilled volunteerism can help address. Last week, we wrote about how skills-based volunteerism can help build capacity within the social sector to effectively deliver STEM education. Today we are sharing our perspective on how STEM education and volunteering can increase representation for women and diverse communities in both the social and corporate sector.

This year many Georgia schoolchildren will work and play in classrooms and media spaces with a fresh look and energy due in part to Mohawk Industries and the Georgia United Credit Union School Crashers℠ program.

Since the program’s inception five years ago, Mohawk has partnered with the Georgia-based credit union to “crash” select community schools and give them much-needed renovations. Each year hundreds of schools apply for facility makeovers, providing a list of their needs, and School Crashers chooses the lucky winners.

Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company that provides student nutrition to nearly 400 school districts throughout the U.S., has launched Taste4, a new meal concept that revamps the classics - salads and wraps, deli sandwiches, pasta, grilled favorites, pizza – and elevates school lunch for today’s sophisticated palettes.