Nonprofit Aims To Prep 11,000 Community College Students for STEM Careers
The nonprofit Base
11 has initiated a STEM Revolution program
with the goal of placing 11,000 community college students across the
country
in either four-year universities; full-time science, technology,
engineering
and math (STEM)-related jobs; or STEM-related businesses that they start
by
2020.
The nonprofit kicked off its initiative at West Los Angeles
College. Base 11 will provide funding, equipment, facilities and
curriculum for
hands-on STEM education and training, particularly in work with unmanned
aircraft systems (drones), micro-satellites and STEM-related
entrepreneurship
programs.
"Our focus is to fuel the revolution with the STEM
workforce
and entrepreneur of the 21st century," said Base 11 CEO
Landon Taylor.
The goal is to move 11,000 community college students
to what
the nonprofit is calling its "Victory Circle," which can be attained by
one of
the following:
- Admission to a STEM-related major at a four-year
university;
- Employment in a well-paid STEM-related job; or
- Development of a STEM-related business enterprise.
Base 11 is a nonprofit whose goal is to provide "high-potential,
low-resource students" with real-life training, experience and mentoring
in
STEM-related enterprises.
Among its corporate and institutional partners are California
Institute of Technology, Detroit
Aircraft Corp., Interorbital
Systems and the
National College
Resource Foundation.
"As the unmanned aircraft systems industry continues
to grow,
our partnership with Base 11 will position thousands of
well-trained students
for well-paid jobs," said Detroit Aircraft Corp. CEO Jon Rimanelli.
Base 11 takes its name from the concept of the
base-10 number
system, one of the most
basic
assumptions behind thinking in science and mathematics. The name Base 11
is intended to signal a disruptive departure with the status quo.
Along
with its
emphasis on education and training at West Los Angeles College in drone
and
micro-satellite programs, students will have the opportunity to
participate in
a mentorship program at Caltech, an internship program at the Detroit
Aircraft
Corp., a STEM Entrepreneurial Innovation Program and the Base 11
Fellowship
Program.
"The
community
college is home to American know-how and inventiveness," said West Los
Angeles
College President Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh, "and this partnership will unleash
the
unbounded imaginations of students for whom our college is the only
viable
path."
Base 11
representatives
said they hope to expand the program beyond Los Angeles to Detroit and
Las
Vegas this summer and eight more cities in the United States by the end of 2017.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.