Moore Public Schools Provides New Career-Ready Opportunities

Be sure to listen to recent Moore High School graduate Kobe Jones' interview on the podcast TechCrew Connect, available from Apple and Spotify.

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by: South Metro Standard

Planning for the future is part of every high school's path forward for students but one partnership at Moore Public Schools is contributing to the future in unique ways. A hands-on learning program with real-world application, the Career & Technology Department-based opportunity gives students a pathway to Dell Certification. Known as the MPS Tech Crew, students work through the Career Tech program along with their regular high school coursework.

"Our goal is to lay down a foundation for students to define and get to success. That is ultimately our hope with MPS Tech Crew," said MPS Director of Technology Jun Kim. "We have students gaining skill sets to be career-ready right out of high school, as well as the broader impact in working alongside Dell for a more sustainable future."

Jimmy Martin, MPS assistant superintendent, is tasked with managing Career Tech but he credits Jun Kim with the vision for the program's inception. Kim explained that the program started with a dual purpose: to assist the district in repairing devices faster and engaging the students in a ready-career path. While there is typically a technology department to meet student and faculty needs within a school district, students are rarely given the chance to participate in those services, learn through coursework and apply their skills in service to the school community.

"Dell happened to already be a partner with our devices and they had already created a student program in 2019. Mr. Martin was able to align the Career Tech coursework with that program and it eventually got to the point of having interns," explained Kim.

Dell's vested interest in student success is underscored by resources dedicated to training the next generation.

"We are proud to help equip students with the skills necessary to contribute to their community in a meaningful way," said Kim Boutwell, student TechCrew program manager, Dell Technologies. "We're committed to connecting everyone to skills and resources for our digital world. Our Student TechCrew program is one of the ways that we are helping support hands-on learning and future career skills."

Martin agreed about the program's versatility.

"The computer repair course that we partner with Dell is a comprehensive Career Tech course," he said. "Many of our comprehensive Career Tech courses provide certification opportunities, but the Computer Repair pathway has set the standard."

Students can take a fundamentals class during freshman year before enrolling in Repair I as sophomores, which takes them through Dell's repair curriculum and leads to Dell Tech Direct Certification. During Repair Il in junior year, students work under district technicians solving real-world problems as they arise at local schools. Students can then interview for an internship to be completed in their senior year, with paid on-the-job training up to 10 hours per week accompanying professional technicians.

"If they go to work for any company with Dell products, they are already certified to work on Dell equipment. Westmoore has certified close to 100 students and Moore High School has come close, with approximately 200 students total that have become Dell-certified technicians through the program since 2021," said Kim. "One student even left mid-semester to go to work for an IT firm and did a career path podcast with Dell."

Six exemplary students participated in the internship program for the 2023/2024 school year, with five spots open and candidate selection underway for five spots next year. The paid spots are made possible from the insurance and repair funds parents pay into the system as part of their students' district technology use each year.

"The goal of our Career Tech programs at the high school is to provide industry-standard experiences. So, we work to ensure the students work with industry-standard equipment and have real-life work scenarios," said Martin. "The Computer Repair pathway does an excellent job of providing those experiences."

Kim estimated Repair Il students have touched more than 1,000 devices this school year alone at the three high schools. Interns have worked with between 600 and 1,000 devices from high schools and junior high; they were also an essential part of the deployment process when more than 2,000 new desktop computers and monitors needed to be set up throughout the district.

Both administrators were quick to give credit to classroom instructors Renee Griffith of Westmoore, Daryll Wilkins at Moore High School and Erica Howeth of Southmoore High School for their outstanding leadership of the next generation of IT professionals.

"Those teachers are making it happen and fully engaging our kids to challenge what success as they define it actually is," said Kim.

Our classroom teachers are fundamental to the success of our kids, creating connections that can last a lifetime. - Jun Kim

Program participants also piloted Dell's new Circular Economy Program, which focused on the disassembly of devices as part of sustainability and the reduction of e-waste.

"As an organization, we are rethinking, redesigning, reusing and recycling our way to a better future - this includes our collaboration with Moore Public Schools. Since these students were already skilled at working with PC components, diagnosing issues and repairing devices, Dell hosted a pilot with the students to explore the disassembly process of devices," said Boutwell. "The objective was to measure the time, expertise and expense around dismantling devices into parts for potential repair, reuse or recycling, while teaching students more about the circular economy.

"The student technicians were phenomenal and shared great insights and feedback from the experience - we could not have asked for better partners. We are currently taking our learnings and exploring ways that we can integrate those into future initiatives."

MPS students were the first high school group ever invited to speak at Dell Technologies World, an industry conference for IT professionals that took place in Las Vegas this past May.

The support of the community also contributes to the program's success, Kim pointed out.

"In addition to Dell, the community in Moore is awesome to support programs like this one," said Kim. "The MacMan and local businesses like them, that have taken a vested interest to hire our students, make that training come full circle. It takes a community."

Find out more about Career Tech programs at mooreschools.com and hear Dell's student podcast at studenttechcrew.com/podcasts/.