The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce’s Aerospace Committee met last week on Thursday, February 23. Hosted by North East ISD at their Institute of CyberSecurity and Innovation (iCSI) Center, the committee discussed links between cybersecurity and innovation to the aerospace industry, North East ISD’s new SETA magnet program, and the committee’s focus for 2023.
To begin the meeting, Committee Chair Scott Gray, President, Elevate Systems, welcomed attendees and introduced NEISD’s Superintendent Dr. Sean Maika, who briefed the committee on NEISD’s various program opportunities. Dr. Maika stressed the importance of industry collaboration and credited the iCSI program’s success to input received from industry partners throughout the planning process. The iCSI program has a total of 291 students enrolled for the 2022-2023 school year, comprised of only 9th and 10th grade. Once grades 9-12 cohorts are filled, the iCSI program will serve approximately 700 students. Additionally, the iCSI program has made an asserted effort of recruiting minority students, has a Pearson testing facility on site, covers the cost of industry certification tests, and was structurally built to be modular and adaptable to the needs of the industry.
With the same thought process in mind, Dr. Maika highlighted the district’s new innovative Space and Engineering Technologies Academy (SETA) that is set to launch during the 2023-2024 school year. Students within the SETA program will be able to choose one of four career pathways: Aerospace Engineering, Aviation, Manufacturing & Mechanical, and Computer Science. To ensure SETA’s curriculum aligns with future industry needs across career paths, SETA has formed an advisory committee to gather feedback and suggestions. To join the SETA advisory committee, please reach out to Jonathan Boykin, Director of SETA at jboyki@neisd.net.
Following Dr. Maika’s presentation, Scott reviewed the Committee’s 2023 focus, which was presented during the joint January meeting with the Cybersecurity Council. As a first step toward some of those focused goals, identifying talent needed by local aerospace firms and keeping jobs in San Antonio, the committee recently distributed an Aerospace Industry Workforce Questionnaire that will allow it to discern what tangible measures it can take to do its part and provide solutions.
If you are interested in learning more about the Aerospace Committee, please visit the SA Chamber website.