Western Pa. school districts collaborate with PPG, FedEx Ground, Siemens

About 100 educators and business leaders gathered Thursday to celebrate successful partnerships and share what they’ve learned. The program connecting them all, the Educators and Corporations Program (ECP) will soon be introduced statewide.

“Every partnership is different, but they all have one common thread,” said Sam Shaneyfelt, a consultant for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s math and science collaborative. “It’s all about preparing all of our students for the future.”

The partnership is headed by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, a public education agency that acts as a liaison between schools and the Pennsylvania Department of Education to facilitate programs like the Educators and Corporations Program.

The program pairs school districts with local corporations to provide job opportunities and training, professional development and real-world application to classroom lessons. The program has been operating for about eight years.

At an ECP symposium in Homestead, several area school districts came together along with their corporate partners to share what they’ve achieved in their collaborations.

Staff from Kiski Area, Greensburg Salem, Keystone Oaks, Gateway, Shaler Area and Pine-Richland school districts were present. There were business leaders from PPG Industries, Siemens, Thermo-Fisher Scientific, FedEx Ground and Eaton.

Each district summarized their individual projects — how they’ve incorporated lessons from the workforce into classroom lessons, and vice versa.

Pine-Richland teams with Eaton

Pine-Richland School District began its partnership with Eaton last year, and has incorporated lessons from the energy company throughout its entire K-12 curriculum.

Children begin learning about sustainability and energy as early as kindergarten, said Mike Pasquinelli, assistant superintendent at Pine-Richland.

Lessons evolve each year, incorporating field trips to Eaton’s Power Center in Warrendale for fourth- through sixth-graders, and a project with electrical hardware for seventh- and eighth-graders.

Right now, high school students are analyzing data and communicating it to the younger students with computer science and web design.

“The reality is in the real world, people are coming together and collaborating with technology,” Pasquinelli said.

Kiski Area and Siemens

Last year was the first that Kiski Area School District partnered with Siemens in New Kensington, an energy and building company.

Within two weeks of establishing the partnership, seven high school students were able to participate in a Siemens hiring fair, where they were interviewed for positions in the New Kensington warehouse. Three were hired.

The high school also introduced a business information technology class, focused on helping students build “soft skills” like communication, team work and creativity that will help them in the workplace.

Julie Anspach, product manager at Siemens LDA, said the partnership doesn’t just benefit the school district. Siemens representatives have made classroom visits to the high school, where they’ve been able to build “future partnerships” with both students and teachers.

“This is going to help us at Siemens New Kensington,” Anspach said. “This is going to help build a pipeline of new employees for us.”

Already, Anspach said the corporation is exploring building internship programs and summer employment opportunities.

Greensburg Salem and PPG

The Greensburg Salem District has worked with Educators and Corporations Program three times in the program’s eight years, forming a lasting relationship with PPG Industries. Students have toured PPG facilities, collaborated on classroom projects on product development and have been exposed to scholarship and internship opportunities.

In the coming school year, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and the Pennsylvania Department of Education hope to expand the ECP program to different regions across the state.

“This is a fantastic best practice,” said Laura Fridiriei, special consultant to the secretary of Career Readiness, at the Department of Education.

Mike Fierle, director of the math and science collaborative at Allegheny Intermediate Unit, said the expansion is “in the works,” with hopes to begin training liaisons in different regions as early as September.