Washington Business Spring 2018 | Washington Business | Page 33

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Recognizes a business that has excelled in creating, implementing or supporting a high-caliber
education and/or workforce development system aligned with closing the employment gap.
the company: Richland’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL),
operated by Battelle, is at the cutting edge of science. The lab supports STEM
(science, technology, engineering and math) curricula within Washington’s
K-12 schools and institutions of higher education to create awareness of the
high-tech careers available to the next generation workforce. PNNL also gives
STEM teachers hands-on experience by pairing them with lab researchers
during the week-long STEM Institute.
collaboratory: PNNL focuses on greater student success in STEM fields through its work to bring together like-minded, but
differently focused, organizations to enhance educator effectiveness and mobilize community support for STEM education
through the Mid-Columbia STEM Education Collaboratory. The Collaboratory designs, implements and matures local STEM
education, then models how to amplify and accelerate progress in STEM education with the goal of developing a STEM-
capable future workforce.
stem institute: Last August, PNNL hosted middle and high school science teachers for a week at its STEM Institute.
Collaborating with the AWB Institute, teachers worked alongside PNNL researchers to find real solutions to real-world
problems. The goal of the program is to increase educator access to on-the-ground science that teachers can bring back to
their classrooms. The program focused on two elements: the nature of science and the cutting-edge science at PNNL in the
context of the Next Generation Science Standards (See video link, page 13).
remarks: “Many of you know Battelle, which has operated the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the Department
of Energy since 1965. What you may not know is the lab and Department of Energy have had a long-standing and
enduring commitment to accelerate the development of the future STEM workforce. This is important to us because
our children are going to be that workforce and our companies are dependent on that workforce. When we think about
who makes that possible, it’s the teachers. That’s the very reason PNNL created the STEM Institute program. This award
is especially meaningful to us at Battelle because it is part of our DNA. What we do is our passion. I would be remiss
if I didn’t thank our office of STEM education. The work they do has benefitted thousands of teachers and students.”
— dr. steven ashby, director, pacific northwest national laboratory
Achieve Award Finalists
greater spokane incorporated Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee, Seattle
T h e S p o ka n e re g i o n ’s n ex t- g e n e ra t i o n b u s i n e s s
development organization, Greater Spokane Incorporated
(GSI), is working to create something better in the region
by connecting businesses, cultivating relationships, driving
initiatives to improve the Spokane area and advocating for
employers with a unified voice.
Recognizing that an advanced degree or certificate can
greatly improve a person’s career options and earnings,
GSI’s Greater Minds initiative was created. The program
assists working adults as they return to school or finish
a degree or certificate and offers resources that support
them and their future in the region’s workforce. The goal
of the initiative is to increase the proportion of residents in
the area with a high-quality degree or certificate from 40
percent to 60 percent by 2025. Launched in 2008 with funds from the state to skill-up
and build-up the aerospace and advanced manufacturing
workforce, the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee
(AJAC) has developed and implemented several high-
growth, high-demand apprenticeship programs. In 2014,
A JAC graduated its first class of 31 homegrown apprentices
and has since graduated another 154.
When employers expressed a need for more entry-
level workers, AJAC began a pre-apprenticeship program,
the Manufacturing Academy, to serve unemployed and
underemployed adults. Since its inception in 2011, the
10-week program has graduated 400 individuals with job-
ready skills. Building on that success, the group created a
Youth Apprenticeship Program in 2015. It gives students
two high school credits, 15 tuition-free college credits and
2,000 on-the-job training hours from industry mentors and
local companies.
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