This is no ordinary student presentation.
Acting as consultants, seniors from Tech Valley High School are creating solutions to problems identified by industry experts at highly successful businesses.
We’re talking companies such as State Street, a financial institution servicing nearly 10 percent of the world’s assets; Plug Power, a global leader in renewable energy; IBM, one of the largest IT companies on the planet; and Global Foundries, a multinational front runner in semiconductor manufacturing.
Seventeen-year-old Griffin Lane and his team worked with State Street to provide solutions for how generative artificial intelligence can be used to increase productivity while keeping in mind ethical considerations for its use in a work environment.
“When I came to Tech Valley, every time I would go to stand up even in front of just five people for a presentation I would shake, and I was so worried,” he recalled. “But now I can stand in this room full of 80 people and do a presentation. I think that’s going to be really helpful for the future.”
The presentations are the culmination of the school’s Innovative Solutions Project, a capstone that allows students to showcase all the skills they’ve learned since their freshman year. Through project-based learning, educators provide authentic learning experiences in which their students must work together to solve real-world challenges.
It starts with a round of entrepreneurial speed dating where business partners come to their school and meet with each of the seniors. The students then decide who they want to partner with and must prove why they deserve to be on that team. Once the teams are finalized, students engage in months of hands-on research, brainstorming and client meetings.
“It’s their responsibility to plan the projects, pace them out, create benchmarks, communicate with their business partners all on their own, run business meetings and set agendas,” explained Lana Hower, an English teacher and member of the Tech Valley High School Association. “They learn how to talk with adults, look them in the eye, shake hands, and just be present.”
“The kids get all the essential skills for workforce development,” added art teacher Jennifer Muirhead, TVHS Association, who helps spearhead the capstone project. “They learn how to collaborate, work under deadlines, manage projects.”
And some of these businesses will not only use the students’ solutions but offer them internships and job opportunities.
“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from our business partners who have hired our students that they are prepared and ready to be a part of their team from day one,” said Hower. “Part of the mission of Tech Valley High School is to either keep students here as part of the workforce in the Capital Region or come back here when they’re done with their education.”
Project-based learning is the main form of instruction at Tech Valley, and a major draw for students who transfer from their home districts all over the Capital Region.
“I feel like it’s so much more because I want to be a mechanical engineer and when I do that, it’s not just going to be ‘do calculus’ … it’s going to be applied. You actually have to understand it. You don’t just memorize it,” said TVHS senior Teddy Dubois.
At the conclusion of their presentations, students thanked their business partners for their mentorship, as well as their teachers for their consistent support both in and out of the classroom.
“Mrs. Muirhead would be sending us research articles at like 7 p.m. and giving us things to help and so even outside of school hours our teachers were trying to help us succeed,” said senior Dylan Gray.
Gray’s teammate Hurley Williams-Ross added, “I really feel like our teachers here really do care about our future. Just the way they teach and the way they interact with the students. I play football for my home district and three or four of them came to my games to support me. They really care about me.”
As they left the event hosted by SUNY Albany, it was hard to tell who was prouder seeing their hard work come to fruition – the students over their presentations, or the teachers over their students.
“The thing as teachers … is to see potential,” an emotional Muirhead said. “I know that I push them really hard but ... I believe in them, and they know I do.”