SAUSD's Amplifying Leadership Podcast

15. Preparing and Supporting Our Students for the Future: High School Inc. and the Power of Community Partnerships, Part 2

• Bianca Barquin • Season 2 • Episode 3

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Explore the future of education with Felix Lugo and Mark McLaughlin from High School Inc., and discover how they're revolutionizing learning through work-based experiences. Listen as Felix shares their collaboration with business partners to align classroom teachings with industry needs, empowering students with relevant skills and real-world exposure. From using industry-standard tools to engaging with professionals like CEOs and chefs, High School Inc. bridges the gap between education and the workforce, preparing students for success. This episode promises to enlighten you on how staying current with industry trends and technology shapes the educational landscape.

Witness the transformative impact of innovative programs as we discuss the impressive achievements of High School Inc. students, including those who triumphed in the Cooking Up Change competition. We delve into the exciting new pathways being introduced, such as biomedical, e-business, and e-sports, made possible through strategic partnerships. Hear about the potential for district-wide collaborations that aim to enhance educational opportunities, as exemplified by the successful farm-to-table initiative at Magnolia. Join us as we highlight High School Inc.'s commitment to improving educational infrastructure and making a lasting impact on students' lives in Orange County.

Visit us at our Buzzsprout site for more ways to listen, links to our social media sites and any referenced materials, and complete transcripts of our full-length episodes: https://bit.ly/SAUSDAmplifyingLeadership

Voiceover:

Welcome back Amplifiers, to the second part of our conversation with Felix Lugo and Mark McLaughlin of High School Inc. We hope you enjoy the conclusion of this episode.

Bianca Barquin:

So, Felix, how does High School Inc. ensure that students receive meaningful work-based learning experiences? So, building off of what Mark has shared with us, what does it look like in practice? Describe it for our listeners. So parents who are listening, other teachers, people who are interested.

Felix Lugo:

Absolutely. Thank you for that question. One of the things that we focus on with High School Inc. is making sure that whatever the student is learning in the classroom is exactly what they need outside of the classroom, and one of the ways that we do that is we have business partners come in, meet with the teachers and say 'What are you teaching in health care, particularly in medical assisting?' 'Well, we're teaching x, y and z.' 'That's great, but I currently work at the hospital and we're using this equipment, we're utilizing that software. Do you have this in the classroom? You don't, you should.' And then High School Inc. steps in and goes, 'That's a great thing that they should be learning.' If the district is not able to provide that equipment or software, then High School Inc., as a nonprofit organization, we will step in and get the equipment through a donation and so forth, just to make sure there's relevancy. Whatever they're learning, to my point, in the classroom is exactly what they're going to be practicing when they graduate outside of the classroom.

Mark McLaughlin:

And that actually happened where the front office and back office software that we had was out of date and hadn't been used in the industry for a number of years and we ended up talking to the teacher and saying' 'What is this going to take to get you back on track?' And they said, 'We need this software package.' And we got in that software package and that just took care of every concern that the teacher had at that point in time. Every bit of that. And it gave the kids more relevance because they were real time, real students.

Felix Lugo:

And then with that we have it across all the academies. So we have advisories, meetings that occur, some monthly, some quarterly, just to make sure that teachers are current and what's being utilized in the workforce. And it's great for students to see themselves, you know, their future-- be able to see a nurse, be able to see a doctor, be able to see an engineer, a chef, a restaurant owner, an entrepreneur, and say, 'Hey, you're almost there, let me help you make sure you have the tools, but also teach you how to use those tools.' And that's how we make sure that their work- based learning experiences is relevant on what's being utilized in the world that we know today. But it keeps them motivated and inspired, and not just with the classroom visits, but we bring them out. We bring them out to those job sites so they can explore, touch, feel. We have students visit CHOC, we have students visit Glidewell Laboratory, dental laboratories, entrepreneurs' offices.

Felix Lugo:

You mentioned about the Westin . I spoke to the CEO of that particular company that owns a chain of hotels and he said,'Absolutely absolutely, students can come ask us questions so they know the life of a CEO, the life of an entrepreneur'. So that's how we make sure and then you know we, we again,. wherever Wherever there's opportunities, we let students know. But the core of what High School . Inc does, we create those opportunities. And I remember being on the phone with him, the person who's behind Westin Weston. I said,'Hey hey, it's great what you did for us at the Palm Desert. Let's do that again. However, would you mind having a couple of kids shadow you in your office so they can see what you do as an entrepreneur or CEO'? He said, said'Absolutely absolutely, because my global business students will love to see what it takes to reach that level.

Bianca Barquin:

What an incredible opportunity for a student, and I love the fact that you're having conversations with people who are in the industry and you're actually really defining what current state, what it looks like today, so really meaningful and relevant. But the fact that you leverage these relationships and you're able to ask, you know, just a simple question, and people are very open to it and it provides another opportunity for our kiddos. That's amazing. The question that I have is, I know you're looking at current state and you're constantly talking to the teachers. After talking with folks who are actually in the industry, to provide these opportunities, are there conversations happening about what the future looks like in those industries too? I'm just curious, because things evolve and change over time. Just wondering.

Felix Lugo:

Absolutely. So we had a tour go by and it was an executive chef from the Pacific Club out in Newport Beach and he was touring the new culinary facilities at Valley High School. And as he was looking around and commenting, like, 'This equipment is better than my equipment in the restaurant.,' He noticed one equipment and he said, 'Oh, we have one of those, that's the one with the Wi-Fi, and you sort of like, set it and forget it.' And I asked him, you know that's the future, a lot of these you know equipment is going to be augmented, right, it's going to be automatic. Set it, forget it. And I asked him, 'Does that mean you reduce staff now that you have a machine doing this work? What does that mean in the culinary industry?' And he said, 'No, what it means is staff now could stop paying attention to that and now they could be more focused on the dishes before they're sent out to the customer it provides more quality.'

Felix Lugo:

So that's what it looks like when we have industry partners come in and look at what they're teaching in the classroom, because they're able to give us insights of what the future looks like when it comes to technology and so forth.

Bianca Barquin:

Thank you for sharing that. It's similar to a conversation we were having right before we got into this one. This is awesome. Okay, Mark, I wanted to ask you if you could share a success story that you believe really exemplifies the impact that High School Inc. has had on students.

Mark McLaughlin:

I think that's an easy question. It's Cooking Up Change and the fact that we had five years in a row, we had three students that went out to Washington DC and they won the Cooking U p Change competition and we went against school districts like Houston School District, Chicago School District, large, large groups, and we had three kids and in fact the last kids that went out there had never flown, they had never left the state of California and actually they had certain issues relative to special needs, and what was great about the whole thing was that they learned how to do their job, which was cooking and making sure that the food was exactly what they had to have as far as requirements which, by the way, you have to make a lunch for $1.50, and you have to make sure that certain ingredients are included and certain ingredients are not included, things like salt and things of that nature. They just don't want that kind of condiment in there. But the fact is, not just was it the cooking aspect of it, but 50 to 60% of it was the presentation and how the presentation was done, and that's where the kids shined.

Mark McLaughlin:

I mean, in fact, a couple of groups came up and said your food wasn't as good, but when you told the story it was very good. And you know what we did is we rewarded the kids and High School Inc. turned around and said, 'You stay in Washington for an extra couple of days and just go about. We made arrangements to have a Lou Correa take them around the Senate and they actually went down to the Congress cafeteria and had lunch and everything else and it was just a great thing for these kids and to this day there's at least one or two of the students that continue to have that in the back of her head. 'I'm going to do what I learned how to do when I went to Washington,' and she wants to have her own restaurant and bakery. But that was to me, the one thing that showed that if you just have the right people to help, to support, you're in great shape, and these kids did a fantastic job.

Bianca Barquin:

I love this. It really shows what a profound impact High School Inc. can have on shaping the trajectory and quality of our students' education, careers, and lives. I have another question for you, Mark. Where do you see High School Inc. in the next 5 to 10 years? What new initiatives or directions are you most excited about?

Mark McLaughlin:

I'm going to let Felix start this, and the implementation aspect of the whole thing is really in his hand.

Felix Lugo:

That's a great question. You know, for the past 16 years, High School Inc. has done amazing things, from changing the way we look at education to really transforming students' lives and giving them a roadmap for them to be successful in their college and career paths. For the next five or 10 years, we mentioned it earlier, Monday is a milestone for High School Inc. We're entering another high school, Century High School, November 4th at 3:30, our ribbon cutting ceremony, starting with their biomedical pathway program. The year after that we're going to work with their e-business academy. The year after that we're going to work with their e-sports. And that's in the next three years and we're going to build on that.

Felix Lugo:

Currently, right now, High School Inc. is always getting questions and emails, 'What can we do? Or how can we do what you did at Valley? You changed the reputation of that high school. You increased their graduation rate. You changed countless lives. We hear your stories,' the story like the young lady who started in medical assisting, got motivated in dental assisting, moved on, graduated, went to Mexico to be a dentist, reached out to High School Inc. recently and said, 'Hey, I'm one exam away from being a licensed dentist.' It's stories like that that we want the next 5 or 10 years from now, High School Inc. continuing to do the great work, the partnership with Santa Ana Unified School District, the partnership with the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, is being able to amplify the student experience by providing them the resources they need in order to be successful in their college and career path. 5 to 10 years from now, we want every household to remember High School Inc. is there to stay. We're not going anywhere and we're going to continue to help Orange County.

Mark McLaughlin:

All right, just a couple of things I'd like to add to that, and we'll go back to one comment about the Magnolia campus. It's part of Anaheim Union and they have a farm-to-table and they're funded by the Samueli family and the Samueli family has funded our employee for two years and then also funded the district itself for a couple, two, three hundred thousand dollars, I believe. But really what that is, is that we're program managing a program that's in another school district and I really think, when we start to look at the future, I think we're going to start to see those boundaries, those lines, to drop a little bit and there's going to be some merging and subgrouping of education between the different school districts, not just within the school district, because I think at some point in time, as an educational process, we can't afford the costs associated with the infrastructure we've built over the last 50, 60 years and we have to be different in what we do with our infrastructure in the future. I think that's one of the challenges that we've got. Why did we go after Magnolia? It was an experiment and it turned out to be a good experiment. I think we can turn around and bring that same concept to Valley High School. We had a farm-to-table program connected with the Heritage Museum across the street and we had that with Chef Tiffany and it was a great farm-to-table thing. And we actually had Moses, who is now at Food Services. Moses is an adjunct professor at Santa Ana College and he was in there helping the kids talking about what grew in lines of food and how that food changed over centuries. And it was something 10,000 years ago. Now, at this day and age, it's this new product, new type of growth. So those are the kinds of things that Moses brought to the table. But we have to bring that back and that's why I think MAC is our pathway there.

Mark McLaughlin:

I think the other thing is to add to your question on growth--w hat we're seeing is we are seeing different organizations calling us up. We in fact have a discussion pending next month with a group coming in from LA. We've had the city manager, the superintendent for Lancaster, and we've talked to several other organizations over the past couple of years to just talk about how can we do what you're doing and be successful in our schools versus what you guys are doing, and just that in itself-- I mean, we see that as a growth path too. We see that as a key growth path, but it's not the only one. I think some of the things we got to go back, and go back to my original statement, we got to start merging some of these areas because if we don't, we're going to be duplicating and in some cases, triplicating, because some of it's tied to the community college baseline too, and that's what I foresee for a challenge for the future.

Bianca Barquin:

Actually, thank you both for sharing that. It's super insightful. Not only are we preparing students to be future ready, but we are actually preparing ourselves in our partnership and High School Inc. to be future forward, right, really thinking about this in a different, progressive and innovative way. I think that you're absolutely right, Mark, especially with what you shared. Okay, it has been illuminating to hear your story and insights. Your leadership and expertise continues to support our students and our community in innovative and exciting ways. Before we sign off, it's time for our Amplifier Acknowledgement segment. This question is for both of you, but I'll start with you, Felix. If you could amplify the message or lesson of one educator or leader who's made a significant impact in your journey, who would it be and what is that resonating message?

Felix Lugo:

I think of my grandmother, one who didn't have formal education but was the smartest person I know, raised me, educated me, taught me right from wrong and left me, before she left this beautiful world, with this message: 'Si uno quiere, uno puede.' 'If you want it, you can have it,' and that's the one thing that I will leave with everyone. Whatever you want in life, you're able to get it. Just go for it. Thank you.

Bianca Barquin:

Felix, that is just such a powerful acknowledgement, and it's actually what you're doing with students every single day, so the fact that you're living up to that beautiful message that your grandmother gave you touches my heart, so thank you for sharing. Mark, your turn.

Mark McLaughlin:

My turn. That's tough to follow, Felix. That's why he did what he did there. He says, 'I'll nail him,' but in my particular case I had a number of people that helped me along the way.

Mark McLaughlin:

Just stepping back, when I was 16 years old my father died and so it was my mother who was a stay-at-home housewife, and my sister who just graduated from Boston College with a degree in education, and at the end of the day came back to teach in Northern New Jersey. So everything was kind of in turmoil. But as I look back at my high school days, my college days and even when I get into industry, I have always had great, great mentors and they've really basically given me the go-ahead to do things that I would not do on my own and encouraged me to do those things. And I think because of that encouragement I've been successful a lot more successful than a lot of people, and I'm comfortable with what I've done in the past and I still believe that there's a lot more up here that can help me help the children and the students at Santa Anita Unified School District in the same way I was helped back when I was young.

Bianca Barquin:

Absolutely. Thank you for that powerful acknowledgement. It makes me deeply think about just how reflective you are as a person, Mark, and the fact that you have found, in every step of your journey, somebody who has supported you all along the way. And this is exactly what you're doing, right, you're giving back and you are both paying it forward. I think it's a beautiful thing, thank you.

Mark McLaughlin:

Well, I'll give you one more. When I was in high school, I was trying to figure out, a) where I wanted to go to school and, b) what I was going to do when I went to school. So I took what was known as the Kuder occupational tests. Are you familiar with that?

Bianca Barquin:

No.

Mark McLaughlin:

It's a test that basically asks you a number of questions. At the end of the day, you get top three items and occupations that you should follow based on your responses to the questions. And so my number one was industrial engineering. I went to Syracuse University, got my engineering degree from there. And number two was an Air Force pilot, and I was looking at that one because I had never even been in a plane at that point in time and I don't know how that one happened. But number three was a challenge and it was a priest, and when I say that most people sit there and go, yeah, right. The diversity of where I was and what was available to me from the standpoint of answering questions. I stuck with the engineering side of it and I felt a lot more comfortable with that.

Bianca Barquin:

I love it. That is a great story.

Felix Lugo:

Can I leave a message for our young listeners out there our students?

Bianca Barquin:

Of course, please.

Felix Lugo:

This message is for you. High School Inc. is there for you. We believe in you. We're here to support you in every way possible. Please reach out to us, but also remember, when you do go and graduate and become successful, remember to look behind you. There's someone following you. Help them reach up.

Bianca Barquin:

Beautiful, compelling message, thank you. So thank you, Mark and Felix, for sharing your vision and passion with us today. To our listeners, thank you for tuning in to SAUSD's Amplifying Leadership. Remember, your local school community isn't limited to just the students, families and educators found in our schools and homes. It also includes the businesses and organizations that often support our daily lives beyond the classroom. Partnerships that offer meaningful work-based learning experiences are a powerful tool and another key to student success. Until next time, stay inspired, stay motivated and continue to amplify the positive impact you have on those around you.