Inside IALR

Learning to solve problems: the Academy for Engineering and Technology

• Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

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A two-year, dual-enrollment program housed at IALR, the Academy for Engineering and Technology (AET) provides experiential learning activities focused on theory and design. 

This episode features AET’s Coordinator and Engineering Instructor, John Hatchett, 2016 graduating AET class and current PhD student, Shelita Hall and 2024 AET graduate Caleb Pearson. 

  • John discusses the goals of the program and highlights how the curriculum provides transferrable skills - like problem-solving and collaboration - that students will need in any career. 
  • Shelita talks about what she is currently doing now and how the AET program helped prepare her for higher education and her career with NASA. 
  • Caleb reflects on what the past two years have been and how it has shaped and ultimately connected everything in his life.

Students earn college credits from Danville Community College in math, engineering and English courses. The program is supported by a partnership between IALR, Danville Community College, Pittsylvania County Schools and Danville Public Schools.

 If you or your child is interested in the Academy for Engineering and Technology, please visit ialr.org/aet for more information. 

The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research serves as a regional catalyst for economic transformation in Southern Virginia. Our services, programs and offerings are diverse, impactful and far reaching.

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Caleb Ayers:

Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR. We're here today to talk about a really cool program that we have here. We are very focused on STEM and education, both formally and informally, as well as helping connect students to careers. And I think this program that we're about to talk about really does both of those things. The Academy for Engineering and Technology is a dual enrollment program that we help run here in partnership with Danville Community College and Pennsylvania County Schools and Danville Public Schools. I'm here today with John Hatchett, who's the instructor for the Academy for Engineering and Technology. Caleb Pearson will be graduating by the time you hear this podcast, will have already graduated high school. We also have Shalita Hall, who is part of the first cohort of AET in 2016, who is a PhD student at Norfolk State University and is also an engineering trainee at the NASA Johnson Space Center. So thank you all for being here. Really appreciate it.

John Hatchett:

Thank you.

Caleb Ayers:

So John, we'll start with you. Obviously, you know, we know big picture, dual enrollment program, students getting credits, and it's focused on engineering and technology. But tell us a little bit more about what is the AET program?

John Hatchett:

AET was really designed to kind of expose students to engineering as a possible career path. We do that through transferable engineering credits to college universities, but also through experiential learning opportunities with local STEM professionals to where you have an opportunity to kind of pull the curtain back and kind of see what engineering is like from a real-world basis versus in the classroom. Too often people will hear engineering and think, you know, they think they know what engineering is until they actually get into the field, unless they have a family member there. So if you're good in math and science, a lot of times, hey, you must be an engineer, you need to go that pathway. But it really boils down to the problem-solving aspect of it. And that's where we try to help fill that gap to kind of make sure that you're able to do problem solving before you get into college to where you're now taking on a financial risk and with such a high attrition rate with engineering majors in the first place that you can go in there with your feet on the ground running and learn that this is the right path for me.

Caleb Pearson:

What Mr. Hachette said, it really just does boil down to the problem solving aspects of it, of engineering. AT is actually what got me interested into engineering as a career choice. It showed me that, like, I've always enjoyed math and sciences, but AZ showed me, like, how it could be applied into an actual career field and not just used as a little hobby, like, hey, solve a couple problems, but you could actually use this for real-world applications. And just learning that showed me, like, that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. And so what he said about the problem-solving was, A popular quote that Mr. Hatchett would say throughout the years, I don't want to teach you what to think. I want to teach you how to think. And that's a very, very important part of engineering because if you know how to think, how to solve problems, every single engineering field, whether it be civil, mechanical, industrial, every single one of them, you're going to have to know how to solve a problem. And so teaching you how to think is an incredibly important part of that. But it's just, AET is really like, it's a great gateway to engineering possibilities and possible career choices.

Shelita Hall:

No, I definitely agree with the aspect of learning how to think and in the applied aspect, not just learning a bunch of equations and repeating them and regurgitating them on a test, but actually looking at these equations and saying, this is exactly what you could use these equations for in a real life setting. So, AET for me was definitely a learning curve. You know, it was rigorous. It was difficult, but I... really appreciate the experience because I can say going into chemistry at Norfolk State, I was like well ahead of my class in learning how to think and learning how to just handle STEM in general. So I think it was very beneficial.

Caleb Ayers:

So, and Caleb, I know you just graduated. Shalita, you graduated in 2016. We'll start with, since you just were talking about your experience, tell us a little bit about kind of where you went after AET and how did AET really, and you talked about that little bit, but how did AET really prepare you for what came next?

Shelita Hall:

I went to Norfolk State. I really wanted to do chemical engineering, but they only had chemistry. I was originally interested in chemical engineering, actually because my mother still works at Procter & Gamble, the biggest cosmetic industry, and I was really interested in cosmetic engineering and cosmetic science, but ended up majoring in chemistry and finishing in that with a kind of concentration in materials and which is what I'm getting my PhD in now. Yeah, and so I guess all of those experiences and my undergraduate internships led me to get a regular internship at NASA, and I did a lot of research in space radiation for long-term space flight, and then, yeah, so now I'm currently a civil servant, so a government employee at NASA, NASA's Johnson Space and I am still a part of the space radiation department. So AET was definitely like set the foundation for where I am today.

Caleb Ayers:

Space radiation, that

Shelita Hall:

sounds pretty

Caleb Ayers:

sweet. And Caleb, for you, what's next and how do you envision that the AET program helped prepare you for whatever that is?

Caleb Pearson:

Well, so how AET works, it is a dual enrollment program. And so it provided me with a lot of the classes and credits that I would need for an engineering degree through DCC, which is where I planned. I planned to go to DCC for an associate's engineering degree and then to transfer up to Virginia Tech. But in giving me those classes, it gave me a little head start on it. And so... By taking college classes while still in high school, I was able to learn. It's difficult to talk, but I was able to learn more advanced subjects before college. In setting that foundation, like Shalita said, AET really was a foundation for you know, moving on to an engineering career and a greater education in engineering.

Caleb Ayers:

Yeah, no, that's really cool. And as someone, I was in no way interested in engineering, but as someone who did dual enrollment in high school, I think that part of it's really important. And just to back up from a, John, you had mentioned, or no, Caleb, you had mentioned earlier, you know, that this is the first three hours of your day for the last two years. So just structurally how this program works is students from Danville and Pennsylvania County schools are bussed in every morning and spend the first three hours of their day here focusing on engineering, math, and English courses. Those are the three primary ones. And then during those two years, they pick up 30 college credits. That's right? Currently, there are 31. 31. So during those two years, each student that participates picks up 31 college credits, which is about a full year. So structurally, that's sort of how it works. John, we've had nine cohorts. You've been here since the beginning. So talk a little bit about how this program has stayed the same and how it has changed during those years.

John Hatchett:

Well, I think the focus has always still been on students being exposed to engineering as a pathway that way. Now, it has changed kind of a little bit from the very beginning, where when I first came in in 2013, it was really only at a time at New College Institute in Martinsville, Virginia, in a partnership at the time with Virginia State University. And during that first year I was working with them, we started developing the program here with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in making sure we had a pathway where we had both math and English as well to partner with the engineering program that way. But it still came to the idea that we wanted to expose students to the possibility of these type of jobs in the area, that we wanted them to stay. We wanted them to be here. We wanted to continue to grow this area because Southside Virginia, Southwest Virginia, where we're kind of devastated, of course, with manufacturing job losses over the last few decades. And now we've transitioned from that to more of an advanced manufacturing aspect of it, to where a lot of it's automation, but you still need a highly qualified, trained workforce to be able to control that, to know what's going on and problem solve on the fly. And to do that, you need to expose students in an early time period and let them know what's capable for them to have here so that they want to stay here. And that they actually had the ability themselves, because some of them, I've had students come to me thinking that they wanted to be an engineer, and then after the first year or so, they're like, yep, definitely not me. I've had a lot of fence setters that didn't know one way or the other, and chose one way or the other. Then I've had some students come in here and say, you know, engineer's not for me at all, but then by the end of the two years, like, you know what, I have an aptitude for this.

Caleb Ayers:

So those students, just because it was a dual enrollment program, is that more why they were interested?

John Hatchett:

Well, yes, in a lot of cases, you know, They're kind of pushed to credits when they think it's a shorter way through college, that they can save money that way. But with a lot of STEM-type majors in general, you're still going to probably be in college for three or four years, and especially something like an engineering major, because it's so... concentrated. I like to kind of say engineering bachelor's degree is more along the lines of a five, five and a half year program condensed into four. Because you're starting right away taking the engineering programs your freshman year. While a lot of other majors, you kind of start more of a general studies aspect of it. But if you want to start in engineering to graduate in four years, you're starting right away with engineering classwork. So this gives them that kind of a jump start, whether or not they can get those out the way or really realize, hey, this is for me without the additional stresses of leaving school, or excuse me, leaving their parents home, going to college, and then being confronted with this huge workload demand. So kind of prepare them that way. You're getting the same rigor and relevance that you would in the coursework, but in a way to help bridge the gap between being a high school student to being an actual college student in engineering, where you have me for an hour and a half every single day for two years. So that's seven and a half hours a week for 40 weeks, essentially. Well, for 36 weeks or so. But it gives you an opportunity to ask questions. I'm able to go over more examples, really help you to help you understand that you can do this. And that's kind of the whole point. My number one goal is to be your advisor. I would love to have everybody go in there to be an engineer in the future. I know that's not necessarily going to be the case, but I want you to do what's best for you. And if you decide engineering or STEM is not right for me and you want to go to a different major, hey, I'm happy for you. That's still a success story for me because I helped you find the pathway that's right for you.

Caleb Ayers:

That's cool what you're saying, that it's not just about funneling all of these students into engineering roles, but helping them figuring out earlier so then they're not investing the time and money in college and then realizing then. For Shalita and Caleb, for you all, and I mean, John, you can answer this too. I've heard all of you kind of talk about problem solving as one of the biggest components or biggest things that you've learned. What other either practical, like hard skills have you learned or even soft skills? I mean, things like, you know, you've mentioned problem solving, collaboration. What have been some of those or what are some of those key skills that this program tries to instill?

Caleb Pearson:

Well, see, the math that is offered is a precalculus trig and a calculus class. Well, two different classes. And so the math aspect of it is incredibly important in engineering. And so it gives you a great, like you said, practical skill. So knowing what equations to use in certain situations. And then as far as the actual engineering class, it's an engineering class, but we didn't exactly always learn engineering, to be honest. But that doesn't mean it wasn't important, because a lot of the time we went over, even in the first semester of the first year, we were originally taught not engineering aspects, but we were taught what is engineering. different branches of it, how to find jobs in it. And we were taught the ethics of engineering, how to use it with a proper mindset, not abuse it. Because engineering is an incredibly powerful aspect, knowing how to use, manipulate technology and stuff of that aspect. And then we were also... There was a project in our first semester where we were taught how to work with teams. And we designed, it was me and two other people designed a board game. And I think it was kind of like a breaking in because that was just a couple weeks in. I think it was just to kind of like, hey, these are new people, you know. You don't know them, but you'll work with them. Because in any job, in any career field, that's an incredibly important part of it is to understand how to work with people that you don't necessarily know and how to build a team and how to use each person's skills to their advantage. And so me and two other people built a board game. And actually, one of those people Jordan Eldridge, honestly. See, that's why I said we didn't exactly learn engineering the entire time. I'm sorry. Bear with me. But, see, like, AT is what gave me probably, like, the greatest friends that I have right now just because of the people that came in weren't people. Like, in a regular base school, not everybody wants to be there. But everybody who had applied to be at AT didn't. knew that they wanted to be at AET. Whether it was for the engineering or just for the dual enrollment credits, this was somewhere they wanted to be in the morning. They wanted to learn more. And so that kind of like-mindedness is what allowed me to meet more people. And so this specific person I was talking about, I'm still friends with them to this day. And like I said, this was like a first few weeks into the very first semester of the first year. And two years later, I still talk to them. And just because this program, it opens up so much opportunity for connections. And so in teaching us how to work with a team and how to make connections with people, it worked. And then also, of course, in the actual engineering class, we worked on graphing, math, just Basics and engineering and then the first the second semester of the first year We did like a few month long project with other businesses. It was I think it was called the now project and Yes, and which we we had businesses come to us and the this year's class also did that but um We had businesses come to us and sort of as an outreach come to Like these students and ask us. Hey, we have a problem. Is there any way you can solve this? And so I think we were in three to five person teams, three to four maybe, I don't remember. And we had a couple months to actually have meetings, have interviews. We learned a lot of problem solving. I don't know exactly the word, but we learned how to solve the problems in a team. And it was an incredibly useful tool for just understanding how to solve the problems. And then this past year, it was mainly focused on the actual aspects of engineering itself. We went over electrical, mechanical, all sorts of different types. But that's really what it's been for me. It's been incredibly useful.

Shelita Hall:

Outside of, you know, working with the team and really honing in on problem solving skills, I think one of the biggest skills that I took away was learning how to and not being afraid of asking questions. I think that it was such a huge learning curve for me and it was rigorous that I had to get over my, you know, the inner voice. And I really learned how to ask questions and to actually work with my peers to study and and work on different things. I think that that aspect, it may seem small, but going into university, Not being afraid of asking questions and knowing how to do that early on is definitely a skill that I had, which I feel like is kind of part of the reason why I feel like I was a little bit ahead of my peers who were not exposed to university level courses in high school. So, yeah, I think that that was kind of like a big thing that I took away from AET. I was here every morning before class. class got started and I was in the office hours every morning. And so learning how to take advantage of office hours and asking questions and working with peers is a big aspect that I took with me to university.

Caleb Ayers:

It's cool to hear you guys talk about this, that it's those, yes, it's those hard engineering skills, the trigonometry or whatever. I don't understand engineering, so I'm not going to go off on a

John Hatchett:

list there. Trigonometry is a big part of it. Okay. So yeah, well,

Caleb Ayers:

sure. But also those, those skills that go across industry, that go across no matter what you end up doing.

John Hatchett:

And with that, I've pretty much now finished my 19th year as an educator. And years ago, there was something we came across called the four C's. These were key soft skills that businesses came across. Hey, what do we really want in a new employee? I might be able to train them on a technical aspect here to be able to run this type of machine, but what am I really looking for? And with those four C's, you essentially had collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. So with that, the collaboration aspect, working together as a team. With people you might not necessarily be best friends with, but you need to be able to work together. Communication aspect. It's one thing to be able to do something on your own, but you've got to communicate either written or oral form. The creativity. There are many different ways to solve a particular problem, but what's a creative way to do it with the best resource you have? And of course, the critical thinking is the problem-solving skills. So that's kind of my overall... aspect I want to kind of instill in students overall is like hey what are these four C's that can take with you no matter which career path you go to because these are highly sought after by businesses overall I might be able to train you in particular to do one particular job but am I going to be able to work with you for years and years and years can you communicate that overall and another thing I've always told you too you know having the correct solution is not always having the correct answer is not always the correct solution you've got to be able to communicate you might have the best idea in the world but unless you can communicate with somebody else and have somebody else to work with you and understand it, it's essentially meaningless. So being able to do something on paper to show people your logical thought process, your steps, be able to communicate that in a logical manner so people can follow you and they're right there with you You're now a team. You're working together versus having many different solo pods here that hopefully we can come together at some point, but we want to all work together at the same time and be able to communicate the same way.

Caleb Ayers:

That's cool. Just that idea of those soft skills as well as those technical skills, and this kind of brings all of that together for those people who are going to pursue engineering like you all or those who aren't.

John Hatchett:

There are skills that are available for anybody, no matter whether they go into an engineering major in the future or go off to another engineering major or go straight into the workforce. These are still things that are going to take from this type of program that are going to help them in the future no matter what they want

Caleb Ayers:

to do. Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, that's all the questions that I have for you guys. I think this is a really, really cool program. Like we said, we're just graduating the ninth cohort, and I think it's about 25 approximately that graduate with each one. And then this is for juniors and seniors. So at any given time, there's 50, 40, somewhere between that, students from Danville and Pennsylvania County schools that are working on this program. program here at the Institute. But I think, you know, helping grow the workforce, you know, we're very focused on that. This helps with that, focusing on STEM and education. This program directly connects to that and ultimately to our mission of economic transformation, you know, as you were talking about in the beginning, John, that if we're helping draw companies here with programs like this, but also helping students have want to stay. So it's definitely a great program. Um, but that's, that's all the questions that I have. Is there anything that you all would want to add or anything else you think it's important that people know? Just that I, um, I had this

Caleb Pearson:

thought last night. I don't know why I was trying, I was going over, I was, we were sent talking points and I don't know why I was reviewing them. Cause I, you know, I, I get anxious, but, um, anyways, so I was thinking about this and AET has really like, given me all of the... I can give it credit for... This might be a stretch, but all the good things that I have going for me right now. Because, see, when I originally had applied to it, I applied to not only AT, but also Governor's School and a Vo-Tech program for teaching. Because in my sophomore year when I applied, I originally wanted to be a math teacher. But, see, I was denied from... Governor's School, but see, that was kind of a little happy accident because I was accepted into AET and the teaching program. And see, I was going to go for the teaching program because, see, that's what I wanted to do. But I talked to my parents about it, and they're like, well, listen, you've got to understand, not only do teachers not make a lot of money, but the job field isn't as... open as an engineering program and they could really my parents told me that they could see me being an engineer rather than a teacher and so I took their advice on that and so I went for AET probably the best choice I've ever made I'm not gonna lie because it opened up an entire different window to more people like for like like-minded people that I can now call friends but um in my first semester of my second year I had just lost a job and so that summer and um I said first semester second year yet and so I was talking to one of my fellow classmates Zach Harris and I was talking to him that I didn't have it at the time I was a little like low on money and he said at the time he had worked at Chick-fil-a and said well why don't you just apply to Chick-fil-a and so I did, and I got an interview, and I got accepted. I'm gonna point this out throughout the entire time, if it wasn't for me getting into AET, I would not have met Zach to that level, and I would not have talked to him about this. And so, I have a great job going for me right now, and so that was, I can give AET credit for that. But also, not only that, at Chick-fil-A, a few weeks, maybe a month in, that's where I met my girlfriend. And so, and I'm just saying, like, no, I'm giving you credit for drawing lots of lines from here to here to here. This all comes back to AAT. I might be reaching, but I'm telling you right now, you know the butterfly effect. You know, I mean, that's an incredibly important part of, like, engineering and physics is, like, the butterfly effect. And, like, chaos theory, the most insignificant change in something can cause such exponential

John Hatchett:

change. Now, when he said we don't necessarily talk about engineering all the time, this is where we get into the deep and the We go really into some interesting... I was

Caleb Pearson:

also given the superlative most likely to get a teacher off track, so... I don't know. But, yeah, so my girlfriend and probably the woman that I planned to... She's, like, amazing. The woman I planned to marry, Sam Salcido. But, um... I honestly give AT credit for my job, my girlfriend. It's crazy.

John Hatchett:

Or you're going to name a kid after me in the future.

Caleb Pearson:

But I mean, am I making sense here? Or am I just crazy?

Caleb Ayers:

I mean, for you, all good things come from AT. All

John Hatchett:

good things come from AT. It's your experience. Hey, that's the way you see it.

Caleb Pearson:

It's great. So yeah, I just want to end with that. AET has been incredibly important in my life, and I do look forward to many more years of graduates coming out of it.

Caleb Ayers:

Anything else for you all? Do all good things come from AET?

Shelita Hall:

I mean, I could say that I would not be... working for astronauts if it wasn't for AET. You know, AET laid the foundation for every single step in my academic career. And I feel as though if I wouldn't have went through AET, you know, I simply would not be where I am today. I wouldn't have had such a successful academic journey. And I'm very appreciative of it. And that's why I try to stay connected with John to help in any way that I can with the program.

John Hatchett:

And I guess for me, I mean, it's very fulfilling. One, I get to spend time with some really great people. We get to have some conversations that you wouldn't necessarily have in a typical classroom. And while you mentioned you wanted to possibly be a math teacher and then chose engineering, well, I was actually kind of reversed to begin with. I went to engineering and then became a math teacher and then became an engineering teacher. But overall, it gives you an opportunity to really experience life and see what it's like from other perspectives. It gives us success stories, no matter which way it goes. I mean, to be a small part of their story. You know, it might be one little sentence in a big chapter, but it gives them an opportunity to where, hey, I love you guys coming back, and I love to speak with you guys. And you really don't get that in very other places. It's more of a community-type basis here. I mean, we do talk about a whole lot of off-the-wall-type things, which is perfectly fine, but I've tried to bring it back to the topic at hand, at least from time to time. But we have that opportunity to really expand upon some of it because I want you to be a lifelong learner. I want you to be enthusiastic about learning new things and experiencing new things, not necessarily being just, here's a textbook, here's what I've got to do, here's what I've got to do, here's what I've got to do next, but have more of a larger picture of what your life is going to be in the future and show them There are different pathways to get there. And just in general, enjoy the time that you have. Overall, meeting new people, having a great career pathway. In the future, you never know what's going to happen. But in my experience, engineering itself has led me to options that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Caleb Ayers:

Well, I really appreciate you all taking the time to share your experiences with this program. And

John Hatchett:

yeah,

Caleb Ayers:

thanks for being here. We appreciate it. Thank

John Hatchett:

you.

Caleb Ayers:

Thank you.