Boeing Educates Future Workers

You can’t learn how to be a pilot just by reading a textbook. You have to get in the cockpit and fly the plane, and you need industry professionals to show you how to do it.

At Boeing, many of the company’s 160,000 employees contribute to the Global Corporate Citizenship program so that students can receive a quality education — particularly in math and science — that will equip them for STEM careers.

“Boeing really understands that education is how we prepare people not only for work, but also for life in the future,” said Joyce Walters, the director of education and workforce initiatives at the company. “We believe that a quality education is something that all children deserve, so we’ve been investing in that literally for decades.”

The company takes a holistic approach to supporting education, she said. For newborns to 5-year-olds, Boeing sponsors educational TV programming such as "Sid the Science Kid" and also helps parents prepare their children for kindergarten.

As kids grow older, they need to develop strong leadership skills, which is why Boeing invests in programs such as FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Through the robotics portion of the program, company employees mentor high school students as they build robots and compete against each other.

At the college level, Boeing focuses on the skills that it needs its employees to have, including communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and individual and team problem solving. They also should have an appetite for lifelong learning.

“We need people that are nimble and can learn new skills as they move along,” Walters said. 

As for higher education faculty, Boeing funds the Welliver Faculty Fellowship program, which pairs professors with employees at the company during a six-week paid internship. The faculty members observe Boeing’s workforce needs, see how the concepts they teach can be applied in the industry, and identify areas in which the company could improve. 

For the employees who reach retirement age, the company is funding a pilot program that will allow them to teach math and science in the classroom.

“It’s a very comprehensive strategy around education,” Walters said.

Photo credit: Boeing
Boeing engineers Darren Stout (left) and Drew Terry (center) discuss improvements on a robot with student Spencer Hanes. Boeing hosted a robotics scrimmage at its hangar facility in Oklahoma City on Feb. 14, 2009.