Julia Tilton, GrowNextGen teacher leader

What about teaching excites you?
The fact that I get to help mold and teach our future generations. I have a direct relationship with our future doctors, leaders, CEOs, and maybe even the future president! I also get to create connections with students that will last a lifetime. Students don’t realize that they make as much of an impact on us as we do on them.

How do you help students make the industry or real-world connection to what they are learning?
First, I base all my STEM units on careers. Each unit, the students will research a career that relates to that project. For example, we do a building/blueprint project. At the end of the unit, the students have the option to research a structural engineer or architect. I also have guest speakers present to the students. I’ve had mini-golf hole creators, CDC employees, and software engineers speak about their careers and what they do on a typical day.

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