Local STEM teachers and school counselors gathered at Citgo Park last week to learn about the expansive job opportunities Southwest Louisiana’s industry offers to local graduates.

On May 18-19, the Lake Area Industry Alliance launched the LAIA Educator’s Institute — a two-day professional development opportunity.

During the Educators’ Institute, the teachers developed a deeper understanding of the ins-and-outs of local industry careers and functions, such as employment practices and processes, safety practices and economic impact.

The LAIA curated this curriculum to give educators and counselors further tools and training to inform and inspire the future workforce.

Participants saw these processes first hand through facility tours and speakers from various plants. On Friday, every participant recounted what they learned and received a certificate.

Katie Fournet, a counselor at St. Louis Catholic High School, said she enjoyed her experience. “It was delightful … . Everybody that presented was so knowledgeable and brought it down to a level that was super understanding, answered all of our questions and really went out of their way to make us feel appreciated.”

For her, a tangible understanding of the opportunities that industry offers is necessary for her to guide the students who visit her office.

“I think teachers and counselors can better inform students about these opportunities and how to get to those opportunities … not just inform them, but guide them.”

She (and many other participants) noted the most beneficial aspect of industry that she learned about was the variety of careers available.

“This has helped me know how to guide students to other career opportunities than what I thought was imaginable here in the industries, beyond engineering,” she explained. “There are so many artsy fields, like human resources, graphic designers. The list of job opportunities are endless …  . It’s a city within a city.”

Renne Hardy, an eighth-grade science teacher at Iowa Middle/High School, said her new in-depth understanding of the day-to-day processes of the plants will help her encourage her students to stay motivated through a realistic understanding of industry employment.

“Showing them all the hands-on jobs, how shift work functions, what is the job of the operator, who monitors the screens … it will help those students that might not feel like they are not good for the workforce,” she said. “Just giving them that outside feedback of what opportunities are available, that’s what is important.”

She hopes to instill hope in her students who don’t plan to take the traditional educational path, which requires earning a four-year degree.

“You don’t have to necessarily go to a four-year university to work at the plants, you can start at a two-year accredited university like Sowela and move your way up.”

In the classroom, Hardy plans to tell her students that the skills they apply during scientific research, studies and experimentation will be applied in everyday life.

“A lot of the things that the science students do now is research based. They have to analyze a lot of data. By touring the plants and going into the actual chemistry lab, you realize that is a majority of what they do. I am going to put that idea in students, that research and trial and error is not something that is ever going to go away, you are going to see this in practically every career.”

She also plans to tell her students that they need to develop more than just STEM skills to succeed, citing public speaking, writing and knowing what to wear and how to interview as vital skills needed to support industry jobs.”

Fournet spoke to the importance of supporting the local economy by educating and encouraging future industry workers.

“It’s going to help our community, it’s going to give back to our people and our economy,” she said. “I think getting an education and exploring outside of the area is great, but coming back and bringing it home to the people that raised you, that fed you, that clothed you, from all different walks of life… to bring it back home is going to be vital to our community.”