To meet the needs of the Naval presence in Southern Maryland, the region needs a robust workforce pipeline that identifies our talented, young students in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields and trains them to create a Smart Workforce. The Patuxent Partnership’s SoMD 2030 initiative is set to do just that.
The SoMD 2030 initiative is focused on building up our STEM pipeline, increasing career opportunities, and expanding partnerships with government, industry, and academia. The effort is funded by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aviation Division (NAWCAD), and the Patuxent Partnership is executing the work under a Partnership Intermediary Aagreement with NAWCAD.
About the Patuxent Partnership
The Patuxent Partnership (TPP) works with government, industry, and academia to advance education through STEM-based initiatives, to advance technology through speaker programs and networking, to advance science and technology transfer through the exchange of ideas, information and data related to technologies, and to foster workforce development through an array of initiatives in Southern Maryland.
TPP works with education institutions such as St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the College of Southern Maryland, and St Mary’s, Charles and Calvert County Public Schools, as well as other schools, industry, and NAWCAD. The funding is due to the continued efforts of the Southern Maryland Navy Alliance, a group of volunteers working to protect the current and future economy of Southern Maryland.
Opportunities for High School and College Students
Jennifer Brown, SoMD Workforce Development Director, says, “Primarily, we’re looking to connect high school students with apprentice opportunities and college students with a summer internship program. We’re also raising career awareness and committed to developing and retaining the young workforce in the tri-county region.”
Three main goals of the initiative are:
- growing the STEM pipeline,
- career opportunities (paid internships and apprenticeships, and
- increasing career awareness.
Co-funding for the program came from NAWCAD in St. Mary’s County, so the initial focus was on St. Mary’s County, but they are growing their outreach in Calvert and Charles counties. The summer 2023 internship program had six participants from Charles County and the 2024 cohort will have seven. UM Charles Regional Medical Center had a significant presence at the Spark! Career Awareness Fair for high school students this past February.
Paid College Internships
This initiative connects talented college students with paid internships in southern MD with local industry, government, and nonprofits. College interns participate in an 8-week summer internship program (30 hours/week). Dates for this summer are June 10 – August 2, 2024. Applications were due by December 8, 2023 for the 2024 session. Last year, 41 interns were placed and provided a lot of positive feedback, showing students are hungry for out-of-the-classroom experiences.
More information on the program.
View video: Summer 2023 intern highlights
Working Towards Registered Apprentice Program
SoMD 2030 supports the success of the TechJobsRule (TJR) high school apprentice program in St. Mary’s County Public Schools, which is affiliated with the Apprenticeship Maryland Program (AMP). Apprenticeship programs are run differently in each, and Brown is working closely with Charles County’s high school CTE programs to help support the growth of apprenticeships in Charles County. Brown says, “I have become very connected with Rebecca Brandt [Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE) for Charles County Public Schools], engaging with them through the Spark! Fair, getting students involved, sharing best practices, and collaborating with the Charles County Military Alliance Council (MAC) on how we can support these apprenticeship opportunities in Indian Head.
Spark! Student Career Awareness Fair
The Spark! Fair is designed to engage students with hands-on, interactive learning experiences. 440 tri-county students participated in the inaugural fair in March 2023. In 2024, 900 students attended, with 300 of those from Charles County. It provides students in Southern Maryland with face-to-face interactions and opportunities to talk with professionals from the Navy/government, health, commercial and trades that provided an insider’s perspective of what it’s like to work in a specific industry.
Students experienced different functions of the Navy at Pax River, and opportunities in health, commercial, and trades located in their own backyard while learning about the skills and requirements needed to succeed in each field. This past February’s fair also featured demos with robots from NSWC Indian Head.
View video: Spark! Student Career Awareness Fair 2024
Success of SoMD 2030
This workforce initiative is funded by the Navy, with the goal of getting students into jobs in the STEM pipeline, and eventually using those skills to support the Navy’s work in Southern Maryland, as well as our local economy. About the program, Brown shares, “We’re at the infancy stage.” Challenges come with jobs that are on the naval base, where they can’t have anyone under 18, and sometimes transportation is an issue for high school students. “I think there are unique ways to work around that and we’re trying to share ideas with them to creatively get a foot in the door.”
The Success of SoMD 2030 is rooted in sustained partnerships, relationships, and collaboration with education partners (K-12 and higher education), NAWCAD, NAVAIR, businesses, community organizations, local & state government, economic development departments, and other associations. The College of Southern Maryland, being in all three counties, is a very important partner.
The SoMD Workforce 2030 Initiative continues to expand and evolve. To keep up-to-date on its progress and opportunities, follow the initiative page on the Patuxent Partnership website.
