A few days before Wednesday’s return to school, a handful of Gaston County students were driving dump trucks, working on power poles and seeing what the inside of a cat looked like. All of it was simulated — part of a test run for the school district’s new career exploration lab.
Brett Buchanan, Gaston County’s career-tech director, says the inspiration came from watching middle schoolers explore the National Homebuilders Association’s traveling display of virtual reality gear that simulates construction-related jobs.
“I’ve never seen the students that engaged and just motivated to try out everything,” Buchanan said. “And it’s really because it’s in a format they like. To them, it seems like a game.”
The district had space available at the old Forest Heights Elementary School in west Gastonia. It had federal grant money from the Summer Career Accelerator program that could be used for “workforce-aligned” projects. And it had enthusiastic support from its Business Advisory Council.
Buchanan says since the pandemic, local employers have been eager to work with the school district on anything that helps them recruit skilled workers.
“Everyone is in a severe talent shortage. They want to build a talent pipeline,” he said.
So this school year students in grades 5-12 will have year-round access to three classrooms that include an array of exploration tools.
Trying different skills
For instance, there’s the back of an ambulance where students can practice EMT skills on a resuscitation mannequin. Cameras allow instructors and fellow students to watch whoever is working inside. The simulator, provided in partnership with Gaston Emergency Medical Services, has flashing lights but no driving component. But high school students earning EMT credentials can learn the driving part at school.
Also for students interested in medical fields — human or veterinary — there’s an “anatomage table” with a large screen that provides 3D views of people and animals, including cats, dogs, horses and reptiles. Users can scroll from the skeleton through internal organs and muscles to skin.
“You usually see something like this in a health-care university,” Buchanan said.
The center has virtual reality headsets programmed to simulate 20 jobs, such as preparing meals, spray-painting a car and doing work on utility poles.
“I have personally done this and you do get the sensation of how high it is when you look down,” Buchanan said. That can be a good reality check for students, he said. “It may sound great. It may pay a lot of money. But are you ready to be that high up?”
Victoria Kannon, a senior at Gaston Virtual Academy, tried virtually working on airplane wheels.
“It had me on the tarmac with the wheels and everything. It felt like I was really there,” she said.
Career development coordinator Jon Robinson led his 15-year-old daughter Kennedi through a welding simulation. Robinson says girls tend to outscore boys on welding. “They have that steady hand. They have that ability to score very high on laying a weld,” he said.
That can help break gender barriers for a lucrative job. “We’re looking at $100,000, in that area, to start out with welding,” Robinson said.
Kennedi said she doesn’t plan to be a welder, but “it’s really neat to learn how to do it.”
Then there are the three heavy-equipment simulators. Buchanan says you can try a range of settings: “excavator, backhoe, dump truck, skid steer, crane.” The driver uses a steering wheel, joystick and pedals to navigate courses and complete tasks, while the seat moves to make it feel real. If you run over something or flip your vehicle you’ll feel it. But, of course, no one gets hurt and nothing is damaged.
“When working with our local business partners, some of them say they use this exact equipment before you’ll put somebody on a half million or one million dollar piece of equipment,” he said.
Academics aren’t enough
The virtual career center is part of a statewide trend of encouraging students to start exploring career paths early. It’s no longer considered enough for schools to push kids to get good grades, score high on exams and get a high school diploma. Students need to plan for what comes next, whether that’s getting into college or earning credentials to move straight into a trade.
“My No. 1 goal is to dispel the myth of ‘Let’s think about education first.’ We need to talk about the career first and then be able to plan to get there,” Buchanan said. “Whether it takes extended education or not, it’s ‘What’s the career?’ ”
Buchanan says state education officials plan to come check out the center. He says they’re intrigued by the use of federal COVID-19 aid to create something with lasting benefits.
Meanwhile, he’ll be working with principals to schedule students for visits and lining up business partners to provide speakers, events and job opportunities.
Buchanan says the career exploration center is designed to open eyes and spark discussions, not lock students into a path.
“Just come here,” he said. “Touch, feel, see. And hopefully, learn something you didn’t know.”
