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| GSCC News Cardinal Connections Sponsors Bird Inc. Eighth grade students at two of Gadsden’s middle schools will get a close-up look at careers in the technical fields on Thursday, when they attend a program known nationally as Bird, Inc., under the direction of John Cranston, a former rocket scientist from Huntsville. Cranston will be at Emma Sansom in the morning and Litchfield that afternoon, according to Marian Haynie, director of career transitions at Gadsden State Community College. Haynie explained that the program is important because it teaches 8th graders about the opportunities for success in our vastly changing technical world. Many of these opportunities are available with only two years of training. Cranston’s goal is to emphasize to the students how important it is to “learn to learn” and to recognize their potential for success. He has made a number of appearances sponsored by the Gadsden State Cardinal Connections program during the past several years. Cardinal Connections provides career transition specialists to the area schools. It is their mission to help students develop a plan for education and training after high school graduation. Cranston says it is vital that today’s students be passionate about education and, in particular, technical education. He points out that in 10 years there will be jobs that don’t even exist now and students must be able to adapt to keep up-to-date with the changes. In his opening remarks, he often uses an old cell phone, about as big as a table top Bible, and compares it with today’s phone, about the size of a deck of cards. This, he says, is an example of how rapidly things change. Cranston then goes into what he calls “the fifty minute factory” which is aimed at opening the minds of the students to career fields they hadn’t even imagined. He picks some of the students and trains them to run a factory. The goal is to run the factory, make money and not layoff any employees. With the help of the students, they must solve problems they encounter such as lack of profitability with costs exceeding revenues. In the end, they can achieve success by utilizing academics, teamwork, problem solving and technical skills. “The fifty minute factory” shows the students that it is wise to have technical training as part of their education to better prepare for their place in the work force. Cranston has two of his inventions currently riding on the space shuttle flights. For more information contact Marian Hayne at (256) 549-8168 or mhaynie@gadsdenstate.edu. |