Joy Walczak speaks with Grady Albin, 12th grade KCTC Networking & Cyber Security and Nate Cooper, Senior IT Technician, Kent ISD.
Full Transcript:
Joy Walczak (JW): Welcome to the Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast where we celebrate student success one dream at a time.I'm joined today by Grady Albin. He's a senior at Rockford High School this year and also a student in Kent Career Tech Center's Networking and Cybersecurity Program. You're also involved in LaunchU and we'll get into that in a few minutes as well.Today we also have with us Nate Cooper and Nate is Grady's internship supervisor here at KCTC during this great summer experience. First of all, Grady, why don't you tell us, what about IT got you interested in this whole career in the first place?
Grady Albin (GA): Well, I grew up in a generation of kids that was kind of raised on their iPads. And so, you know, from the moment that I was, you know, had free time, I was used to playing with tech and it gave me a pretty good knowledge base of what to do to fix things.And I was always very interested in tech, whether it be programming or really anything related to it. And so, to really make that into a career and be able to, basically, you know, like mess with computers all day, it's a really fun thing for me.
JW: So you're that go-to person for me to call when my phone or my laptop isn't working, right?
GA: Oh, yeah. My parents would definitely, uh, they would know.
JW: Awesome.And you are now doing an internship here at KCTC. We're going to get into that with Nate in just a minute, but can you first share with me how you got involved at Kent Career Tech Center as a student at Rockford High?
GA: I heard about it through the announcements and posters that were at the school and it sounded like something that I wouldn't really be interested in. But I heard one of my friends was going to be doing the networking and cybersecurity pathway and I thought, well, I like both of those things and that would be really interesting. I didn't know they offered it here. So, I thought it was more like welding and more, you know, careers like that with more mechanical stuff. So, I was really interested in it. And after reading about it, I was like, I'd love to do this, filled out the form and you know, rest is history.
JW: And you've been here for about a year now in this program. What did you learn last year?And does it make you really want to continue in this pathway?
GA: I definitely want to continue because it was really fun to learn about all of these things that maybe I'm not familiar with just through my experience but to be able to look at these certifications that I can gain in looking at all the knowledge in them that otherwise I wouldn't have gotten because it's not something I would have done on my own. um It was really great to be able to get those certifications and have them to be able to put on my resume and use them going forward in my career, but also to use them as kind of a guide for what I need to be learning about. And it's really cool to spend part of my day learning about something that I'm interested in.
JW: What kind of certifications?
GA: A lot of them are through CompTIA, so there's the A +, Security +, Network +, and then depending on how many of them you can get through, how knowledgeable you are, how much you really practice and put effort into achieving them, you can get up to some Cisco certifications like a CCNA. What kinds of careers do those set you up for? They set you up for a lot of different kinds of careers. I mean, can be, do a help desk technician stuff when you're starting out. So kind of like, you know, what I'm doing now, helping people with their computers or getting things, you know, ready for the school year as it were right now. But they really help you in so many jobs, like data centers, being a system administrator, system architects, networking jobs, where you have to deal with how to design and operate a network. There's so many different fields that you can go into and you can get certifications that are specifically targeting one of those fields, too.
JW: This field is absolutely growing and just will continue to do so, and Nate, you are a professional in this area and you are right now supervising Grady's internship. Tell us about what you do and even what brought you to where you are today?
Nate Cooper (NC):Well, like Grady, I actually went to Rockford as well. I came to Kent Intermediate School District for my junior and senior year in the IT program. After that, I ended up at Davenport and right about when I was about to graduate, I heard an internship was opening up back at KCTC and I ended up getting it, um, impressing the right people got hired on and I've been doing it for 17 years now.
JW: So, your pathway is similar to where Grady is starting now.
NC: Yeah. When he was talking about, you know, messing around with computers, it’s almost the same exact story for everybody in IT, is your family has a computer, and you're like, I wonder how that works. And you start taking it apart and then putting it back together or messing with it. And, you know, it just kind of naturally um evolves into going down that IT pathway for sure. Especially if you like problem solving, puzzles, troubleshooting, that type of stuff. It's, it's perfect for that.
JW: Absolutely.Can you share with us what this internship entails? What is Grady actually doing in your program?
NC: So, over summer is a lot of, you know, most of our staff are gone.So what we do is we get a lot of new equipment in. We're inventorying that equipment, making sure it's getting unboxed, deployed to the right places. We're going around room to room, refreshing equipment, you know, making sure everything is good and all the classroom carts, the projectors, all the printers, everything is ready for the next school year, essentially. Yeah, so we just basically refresh the whole campus for the next school year.
JW: So Grady, you're preparing to come back here in the fall at Kent Career Tech Center as part of your senior year and also continuing, of course, your courses at Rockford High School. So what are you doing today in this program in the summer that’s helping you prepare for not only the next school year,but for what happens after you graduate?
GA: Well, I'm doing a lot of hands-on work, of course, with computers, and I'm also learning how our inventory system works, which is something that you don't really get a lot of experience with until you're actually doing a job where you need to use it. So it's really helpful to learn that. I'm also, on my own time, studying for the Network Plus so that I can come and get that certification when I get back, because if I can get them with KCTC, they will pay for it and they're hundred dollars more per every single time you have to take a test, so even if you fail it, you have to pay again to retake it so it can get pretty expensive, but KCTC, they will help you prepare so they want you to not fail it, and then, so that you've passed the first time and you don't have to pay anything.
JW: Wow, so you're saying that this program is actually free.
GA: Yeah.
JW: And Nate, did that opportunity to take courses here and get certifications for free, was that helpful for you in your pathway and how did that work?
NC: The curriculum has changed over time. So we're talking around 2006 is when I was at KCTC. But after I came back and saw that they had switched to that certification, focused curriculum. was very happy to see that because those certs really help you get a foot in the door and, you know, kind of help your resume stand out from other kids that are other students or college students that are trying to get into the job market.
JW: So what made you want to offer an internship opportunity as part of your department here?
NC: We've been doing that since I was an intern, like I said, so we've been historically, as the ISD, been doing internships. One, for extra help, obviously.But two, I genuinely like to try to teach some of these younger kids what having a job over the summer looks like. A lot of them have never had a job before, what it looks like to show up on time, what a workload is, how do you prioritize what needs to get done, what's all happening over the summer and how you understand what needs to get done today. And okay, there might be some downtime on this day while we're waiting for stuff to come in, but when that stuff comes in, then it's go time, then we gotta go, then we gotta make sure it's done, So, kinda giving them that first job experience and understanding what it means to be a good employee and a hard worker.
JW: And I'm guessing Grady is meeting those criteria for you.
NC: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. He's been amazing.
JW: Fantastic. Grady, you also have something else going on in addition to the busy time you're doing here with your internship and also with your schooling. You are part of a program called Launch U. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how it's benefiting you?
GA: Yeah, Launch U is an early middle college program that I joined through KCTC, and because I'm a networking and cybersecurity student here, they offer a pathway to get an associate's degree from GRCC, Grand Rapids Community College, and it's completely free. Again, they will pay for everything. They pay for the textbooks. They pay, obviously, the tuition. And it's really awesome, just an amazing opportunity where even if, I mean, even if you decide, hey, I want to, you know, go do something else. Just having a free associate's degree is something that is, you know, that's such a great opportunity, and especially when it's something that you're interested in going into as a career. And it's not a lot of extra workload on top of my current high school classes. I am taking some college classes through GRCC, but it's not anything that, you know, I don't think any average student couldn't handle.
JW: Well, that sounds like a great opportunity.And I know it also includes a 13th year, not at KCTC,but on the campus of GRCC.
GA: Yeah. So you're going to experience that college life just like another college student might, right? And I think that will be a great experience to have, ah even if I decide which I may, to continue my education, whether at GRCC or somewhere else, I'm not entirely sure yet, but it gives me some experience with what it's like being a college student and what it's like with a college course load and how much studying is gonna be required and just a whole lot of things that I'm not sure about as a high school student and you hear all about from adults, but you don't know until you're there, right?
JW: Right, there are so many things thatyou can't really be certain of at your age. But really, what do you think your dreams are? Like, what would you dream of being with what you're learning today?
GA: I really would dream of having a job where I can come in and enjoy what I'm doing and being able to, like I said, kind of play with computers, know, tinker with things and problem solve and do the things that I enjoy doing at home. And I would like to have a job where I can then, in my free time. build things, work on different projects, whether it be software,apps, or mechanical things. ah I've been getting into some of the more electrical engineering side of things and just as a hobby to play around with. So it would be really nice to be able to kind of support that and also have a job where I'm able to enjoy myself doing whatever it is, even if it's a different field of IT that I wasn't thinking about that kind of problem solving can really be beneficial to a community and to individuals that has to feel pretty good to be part of that. Yeah, it's really nice to be able to problem solve, which is something that has just kind of always been part of my thing. I always love puzzles. That's just something that I do. And so it's really nice to be able to actually benefit other people while doing it and get paid for it. It's a win-win.
JW: And Nate, why do you think it's important for adults like us, for mentors like you, to actually ask students like Grady what their dreams are?
NC:Yeah, I think, um, especially when you're younger, you're not quite understanding the full scope of what this IT field is, right? You know you like computers. You know you like playing video games. You know you like messing around with them. One of my favorite things,, and Grady kind of touched on it, is I tell some of the younger IT kids, listen, if you don't like solving puzzles, eight hours a day, if you don't like working with broken technology,technician might not be for you because we don't get to play with nice, new working stuff. It's eight hours a day of solving broken tech, right?So, understand that going in and you can help guide them, let's say a student, kind of, is really creative when it comes to programming, you know you can kind of push them more towards the programming field, or you can tell this, the student really likes how systems are set up and can understand the overview of something well, then they might want to be an engineer and network engineer and build those networks, um, the kids with a lot more customer service skills, I would say, you kind of, you go to that technician level where you're dealing with the people every day right so you can kind of help guide to a more specific granularrole.
JW: And how did it work out for you? Do you still have mentors to this day? Is it rewarding to be a mentor for Grady?
NC: Yeah, absolutely.When I got my internship here, he's no longer working here, but he wasone of the biggest mentors I had in my life. He taught me a lot about what it meansto be in the adult working world, too. It's not all just about that tech, right? You can know a lot of the tech stuff, but if you don't understand how to deescalate a frustrated person, if you don't understand how to, or just even how the corporate world kind of works, right? That's a little something I like to try to ease some of these kids into, right? You might have a really great idea, but it might not be the appropriate time to just shout in a meeting that this is the idea, right? Bring it up in this way or go about it this way, know, go to your direct supervisor, that type of those skills.We all learn them. You just kind of want to lessen the wall that you hit when you start learning that stuff.
JW: I love that networking actually has two different meanings, right? Networking in the world of IT, but also networking with your fellow coworkers and also the world of IT. So you're learning about these different pathways and connections that you can make through this experience.Grady, what are you looking forward to next year?
GA: I'm looking forward to being a senior and kind of moving on from high school and getting into more of adult life or college student life, you know.But it's very exciting and a little bit scary, but mostly exciting to kind of take that step and start looking at career paths and looking at studies that I'm interested in instead of just going and doinggeneral stuff every day. I'm excited to kind of start focusing and saying, okay, well, maybe I want to start looking for jobs in this category rather than just any fast food place that'll take me, right?So it's kind of exciting to start narrowing down my career.
JW: What makes you proud of where you are right now?
GA: I had a pretty rough transition to high school. I was struggling academically and it just overall was not a very fun time. And it took kind of a lot of work to get to a point where I felt like I can handle all this and I can take some honors classes on the side. You know, I can even like try and push myself a little bit without feeling like, oh, I have so much going on that it's like, I'm only doing school and I don't have any time for myself.So we are very proud of you and the goals that you've already reached and can't wait to find out where you're going next.
JW: We'll be watching, especially as you complete your Launch U program in your 13th year, and I'm sure we'll be returning to talk with you again.
GA: Okay. No problem.
JW: And maybe Nate will hire you one day.
NC: Never know. We'll see.
JW: Thank you both so much for joining us today. We really appreciate this time together.
NC and GA: Absolutely.
JW: We'd also like to thank everyone who's listening today.You can learn more about our Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast by going to KentISD.org/Your Dream. You can also share your story ideas for students that you know who may be celebrating successes and reaching toward their dreams. The Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast is produced in partnership with WGVU.
