National Technical Honor Society Partners With SCRA-Supported Stem Premier
May 30, 2014
FLAT ROCK, NC – The National Technical Honor Society has partnered with STEM Premier, giving top career and technical education students the opportunity to showcase their academic and scholastic achievements. STEM Premier will connect NTHS members with colleges, technical schools and businesses looking to foster, cultivate and employ their skills in higher education and the workforce. NTHS members using STEM Premier’s virtual platform will be able to create comprehensive profiles showcasing their skills and achievements, receive comparative data on how they stack up nationally against others and discover internship, scholarship and career opportunities matching their talents and interests.
The NTHS/STEM Premier partnership directly links users to colleges and industry searching for top students in skilled fields. A student’s profile housed with STEM Premier provides a wide-angle lens view of their academic, technical and extracurricular experience, which is seen by colleges and businesses looking for rising STEM talent. Students can also use the platform to identify personal strengths and weaknesses and discover how to best position themselves in competitive markets. Additionally, students will have the option to be ranked and rated against one another based on their entire profile, not just grades and scores. This unique component seeks to tap into the competitive nature of students and recognize those who strive for excellence.
Deficiencies in our workforce in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are taking center stage because of the dire need to fill skilled jobs. With only one third of students qualified for the fast growing demand for STEM related jobs, STEM Premier provides a game-changing solution for these imminent challenges in the marketplace. Utilizing STEM Premier’s cutting edge technology in combination with building profiles for thousands of secondary and post-secondary NTHS members in over 108 fields of study nationwide promotes students with valuable skill sets and creates a pipeline for top students to fill the skills gap.
Bill Mahoney, CEO of South Carolina based applied R&D company SCRA, agrees that CTE talent is crucial for economic development in key technical industries. “The technical jobs are there, especially within the realm of advanced manufacturing,” Mahoney says. “The key to growth is recognizing specific skillsets among the CTE student population and matching them up to the existing opportunities.”
STEM Premier shares the NTHS vision to connect higher education and industry at an earlier age, thus giving students a better understanding of what educational and career opportunities are out there to match their interests. “STEM Premier connects students who are passionate about careers in technical education to colleges and companies while preparing them for success and eliminating geographic boundaries,” said Casey Welch, Co-Founder of STEM Premier. “Much like the world of sports where students are recognized for their athletic talents, we allow students with technical backgrounds to be discovered for their valuable technical skills and specialties.”
The National Technical Honor Society has served nearly one million members since 1984 and awards over $160,000 in scholarships to its members annually. “This partnership is a natural fit to offer NTHS members a professional, online profile where they can be seen by colleges and industry. Our members are the top CTE students in the United States, and it is our mission to promote their achievements,” stated Wendy Hamil, NTHS Marketing Director. “We strongly encourage schools to start a NTHS chapter to draw attention to their skilled students and urge students to explore the many benefits offered by STEM Premier.”
About SCRA
http://www.scra.org/
SCRA Technology Ventures helps innovative companies grow and develop new technologies, creating jobs and advancing the Knowledge Economy throughout South Carolina. This SCRA business sector provides support and mentoring program to early stage, start-up technology companies through its flagship SC Launch. Since 2006, SCRA has deployed over $79 million in funding and infrastructure to support over 280 high-tech, early-stage enterprises and has directly invested nearly $18 million in South Carolina start-ups, attracting over $260 million in private investment. SCRA Technology Ventures also supports commercialization and growth by facilitating the transfer of intellectual property and accelerating the transition of inventions to the marketplace.
Multiple economic impact studies show SCRA’s cumulative output on South Carolina’s economy to be over $16.6 billion, and that the company has helped create approximately 15,000 technology-related jobs in the state, with annual wages averaging between $55,000 and $77,000.
