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College Collaboration builds STEM Pipeline

The Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) at Sierra College in Rocklin, CA, through a grant from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, has effectively partnered with businesses and schools to open up opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers for local students. Marketing Action has had the opportunity to interview teachers, administrators, students and business and hear the results first hand.

  • The courses a student takes in high school and the opportunity to intern at a local business makes a difference in discovering interests and developing an education and career plan.
  • Students who gain skills that are in demand with industry and are exposed to mentors who can demonstrate the education and experience needed to pursue a career are more likely to select that career path.
  • Collaboration between schools, colleges and businesses helps students navigate through the sea of choices to find a port to which they can tie their career aspirations.

On June 14, 2012, The American Association of Community College Times published A collaborative effort forges a path for an aspiring architect. The article describes how a student benefited from Rocklin High School’s Engineering Support Technology (supported by the Sierra College CTE Community Collaborative STEM project — sierraschoolworks), the Placer County Office of Education 49er ROP architecture, construction and engineering program at Granite Bay High School, and Williams + Paddon, an architecture firm based in Roseville.

It is a pleasure to work with people committed to making a difference.

Increase Capacity without Adding Costs April 5/6

Is your company struggling to meet increased demand with limited staff? If your organization is missing deadlines or has a backlog of unfilled orders, this workshop on how to Increase Capacity without Adding Costs will help you improve capabilities to meet customers’ needs. Learn how to apply Value Stream Mapping tools to use existing assets more effectively.

Discover ways to boost your profits at this Increase Capacity without Adding Costs workshop on applying Lean Value Stream Mapping tools. Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT), offers this training at the Gateway Campus, 333 Sunrise Rm. 123 in Roseville from 8:30 to 4:30 on April 5 & 6. Jes Vargas, DPMG Corp. and CACT Trainer is the presenter. The fee is $50. Learn more at www.sierracollegetraining.com.

Using this mapping tool, one company discovered that it took 23 days to do three minutes of work. Another saved $800,000 revamping cell phone contracts and policies. The most common time wasters are redundancy, unnecessary steps, waiting for material and information, and redoing work because information is missing. Value Stream Mapping enables employees to look in depth at current business activities, depict what’s happening visually and make changes that increase capacity to meet demand using existing resources.

At this workshop, learn how to draw a picture of what is happening and identify improvements:

  • Look in detail at each step of a specific business process
  • Diagram what happens and who works on it
  • Show bottlenecks and wait times
  • Gather data on how much time each action takes
  • Distinguish the steps that add value for the customer and those that don’t

A Sacramento firm used Value Stream Mapping to review an accounting process. Employees discovered that they spent time on scanning, printing, creating duplicates and filing documents that contained information that was stored on computers. They used Value Stream Mapping to reduce six steps to three, cut the process time in half and save over 250 hours annually.

Gain a competitive advantage by attending this interactive workshop with industry examples:

  • Learn how Value Stream Mapping works and how to apply it
  • Identify methods for gathering data, timing activities and showing steps on a process map
  • Experience making Value Stream Maps that reflect the current situation and desired state
  • Use maps to engage employees, support initiatives and link waste to cost savings

For information and to sign up, go to the Sierra College Training & Development web site, www.sierracollegetraining.com, call (916) 660-7801 or email training@sierracollege.edu.

Sierra College Employer & Energy Programs win Awards

Congratulations to Sierra College for the acknowledgement at the Placer County Economic Development Summit held March 17, 2010 for leadership in economic development. Both the Sierra College Energy Technology Program and Sandra Scott, director of grant development and career technical education for Sierra College, received awards.

Marketing Action, Inc. is honored to work with both the Energy Technology Program and Sandra Scott who oversees Sierra College Training and Development for employers, the Sierra STEM grant promoting careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and the Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT).

Learn more about the awards: Sierra College Receives Awards at sierracollegetraining.com

Sierra College STEM Grant attracts middle school students to Tech Careers

The Sierra College Tech-Explorer catapult project that introduces students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math was reported in a brief in the 10-24-08 Sacramento Business Journal page 29 under Business Notes.

The press release » 10/13/08 Sierra College offers relevant technical education to Roseville middle school explains the project and lists several sources for career information.

From the release: According to Sandra Scott, Director of Workforce Development and Continuing Education at Sierra College, “Our vision is to engage all students in applied learning and interest them in pursuing the classes now, in high school and later at Sierra College that can lead them to rewarding technical careers.” She explained that if middle school students can grasp abstract concepts by applying them to a project that is relevant to them, they may be more motivated to take math, science, computer, design, robotics and other technical courses. “Developing their interest now, in middle school, can give them an edge in determining their future,” said Scott.