"SkillsUSA, Robotics, & The Power of CTE at Senior High" - The GIPS Cast, Ep. 069

Max Mendez is a busy student.


A Senior at Grand Island Senior High, he’s taking AP and gaining hands-on learning experiences with community partners through Senior Capstone.  Max is also a leader in the GISH SkillsUSA chapter, the Nebraska State Treasurer for SkillsUSA after serving as a State Parliamentarian last year, he's in HOSA for future healthcare workers, and he’s a team leader for the Islander Robotics team. 


And that’s what makes Max’s story a meaningful one, because his story is like many others at Grand Island Senior High and at public schools across the country.  It all started by him saying “yes” to get involved in a few things as a Freshman.  From there he met friends, found confidence in classes, shared his ideas, and speaks in front of students and delegates (even when he's afraid).


Because it's not just about learning; it's about empowering students to discover who they want to be. 
 

Listen to the latest episode above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

(Transcript may be found below the episode player.)

#WeAreGIPS  

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: 

Podcast Intro  00:00

This is Grand Island Public Schools podcast, and these are our stories. We are learners. We are educators in teaching hearts as well as minds. We are 10,000 diverse voices, and we're changing the world together, one classroom at a time. These are our stories. We are GIPS. We are GIPS. Somos, que y pe ese. We are GIPS. Somos, GIPS. We are GIPS. And this is 'The GIPS Cast'!

 

Mitchell Roush  00:31

Welcome back to 'The GIPS Cast', a conversation based podcast exploring the voices of Grand Island Public Schools in Nebraska. I'm your host. Mitchell Roush, the Communications Director here at GIPS, and as always, I'm grateful to bring to you new stories from all corners of our district, because here we're driven by our mission of every student every day a success.

 

Mitchell Roush  01:00

Max Mendez is a busy student. He's a senior at Grand Island Senior High, and the dude never stops. He's taking like four AP classes this year to finish out his high school career, and his GPA is stellar, and he's taking senior capstone, which also means he spends hours each week on a job site, gaining hands on learning experiences. And of course, that's just his coursework. Max is also a leader in the Gish Skills USA chapter and beyond that, he's a Nebraska State Treasurer for Skills USA in the state after he served as a state parliamentarian last year. He's in HOSA, which is the club for future healthcare workers, and he's also a team leader for the Islander robotics team. Throughout his opportunities in SkillsUSA robotics and career technical education, Max has found himself representing Nebraska in Washington, DC in support of CTE opportunities. He helps lead statewide efforts to host events and move Skills USA forward, and he does his best to hype up the next crop of students to carry the torch. Seriously, Max never stops, and that's what makes Max's story a meaningful one, because his story is like many others at Grand Island Senior High and at public schools across the country. It all started by him saying yes to get involved in a few things as a freshman, and from there, he met friends. He found confidence in classes and found opportunities to share his ideas or to speak in front of students even when he was afraid. And now he has the resume and the confidence to pursue his next chapter after high school, which is to become a respiratory therapist. I had the chance to sit down with Max recently, and he shared his story with me, his story of building confidence in school and sharing his philosophy on why career technical education is a game changer for students. Here's our conversation.

 

Max Mendez  03:11

Hi, I'm Max Mendez. I am a senior at Grand Island Senior High.

 

Mitchell Roush  03:15

So Max, thank you so much for being here. I'm excited to hang out with you today. Thanks for having me absolutely so you are a busy guy. You're involved in a lot, and you're getting ready to graduate. So I'm excited to hear about all the things, but I know that there are a couple of things you are particularly passionate about. And one of the things that you've been heavily involved in as a student at Senior High is representing Skills USA, not just at Gish, but also at Nebraska and on a national level. So I want to ask you about that first when you look back at your first skills, USA meeting, what's the biggest like growth spurt you've seen in yourself? Like, how have you seen yourself grow, not just in technical skills, but as a con, as your confidence and a leader?

 

Max Mendez  03:55

Well, looking back at my first meeting, I think about how my very first meeting, we had to run for officer positions, and I was like, Well, you know what? Why not? Let's give it a shot. Yeah, roll the dice, man. Let's see. There's nothing to lose. So I stood up, and I, like, stuttered through a speech, and I think that's one of the biggest areas in growth I've seen, is looking back on at that first meeting, I could barely talk in front of like, 30 people, yeah, without stuttering over myself. And now I've spoken in front of 1000s, like, clearly, concisely, I've done a lot of speaking in front of people from the government and a lot of members they were in high school and teachers and all that stuff. So I think my public speaking skills, my confidence on stage, has definitely increased.

 

Mitchell Roush  04:33

That's a huge way to just kind of measure your growth and your comfort level, right? Like getting in front of people, even if only, if it's only just like 10 of your classmates, that can be nerve wracking, but, and I guess maybe that's one of the cool things about the experience. For students in Skills USA, you get so many opportunities to not just learn things, but to grow through experience. So talk to me like, What? What? How would you describe your Skills USA experience, and why is it important here at Senior High?

 

Max Mendez  05:01

I would describe my skills you USA experience as a lot of ways to describe it phenomenal, for sure, amazing. I've loved every minute of it. It's made coming to school a lot easier. It's made it made my days like so much better every day that I mean, I think it really the reason it does that is because it like connects me with people who are also passionate about things like I am, like education and learning and preparing for the future. Yeah, because every kid in Skills USA wants to do something with their life. They want to make money, they want to have a job, you know, absolutely thinking about those things now, which I think is important, and to be confident in what it is that you're doing exactly, exactly. Every kid I met school to say, I've never met someone who's unsure of themselves. You know, everyone's USA is confident. And while they might not come in that way, they definitely leave more confident in themselves and their skills and then what they want to do in the future. So that's one of the amazing things about skills.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:47

I think, being able to find not just what you're passionate about, but to gain the skills to do it confidently, to do it well, and to build connections along the way with your classmates. So give me just a brief rundown. Let's if there's somebody listening to this episode that doesn't quite know what Skills USA is, all right, give me a like, a one minute rundown on what is Skills USA and what are some of the things that you do.

 

Max Mendez  06:10

All right, so Skills USA is a career technical student organization, and the best way I can describe it is it's a it's a bridge between the classroom and the real world. Yeah. So we focus on a lot of skills and jobs that you can get from CTE classes or career technical education, and we kind of bridge what kids learn in the classroom to the real life standards that people have in the workforce. For example, our EMT courses, it bridges what people learn from the say, EMT course at CCC, and we test them over the national EMT standards to get certified as skills, you say, and we give them much random scenarios to test their skills that they've learned. And that shows them how ready they are for the job market.

 

Mitchell Roush  06:50

Get people ready for the job market, right? This is, this is real hands on experiential learning that you get to do here. And whether you want to go and do like a four year university after college, or you want to go and get employment right after somewhere in between, these experiences give you more of a leg up to be able to pursue that confidently.

 

Max Mendez  07:09

Yeah, they definitely give you more of a leg up. And, like, your confidence and your knowledge would also give you a leg up, I guess I want to say with, like, knowing people, because in skills, USA, a lot of our we have contest coordinators who judges, and they're usually people from the industry themselves. Yeah, we have a VIP tour that comes through different representatives from all these companies, like Hornaday, new core, they'll come around at stay and they look at the competitors. And a lot of kids get offered jobs right there, like they're 18. They're getting job offers amazing or full ride scholarships to like UNL or stuff like that, paid for by these companies and these guys. And that's really just one of the other benefits of it, that gives kids a leg up for the future.

 

Mitchell Roush  07:46

That is so cool again, helping kids get students get connected to incredible opportunities. How big is the Skills USA chapter this year?

 

Max Mendez  07:53

Skills USA chapter at Grand Island Senior High? It's about, I want to say, Oh, 6050, students. That's awesome. Yeah, usually hovers around that range. Yeah. We've definitely grown in the past few years. I think my first year there was like 30 of us. So we've definitely grown.

 

Mitchell Roush  08:08

And then one of the unique things we get to do here in Grand Island is we always host the state Skills USA Competition. So talk to me about that. What are some of the things that go on there?

 

Max Mendez  08:18

Yeah. So we get to host the state competition here in Grand Island. Well, actually used to be, I think, in Omaha, for in Omaha for time, but we had to move it to Grand Island because fonder Park is the only place in Nebraska that's actually big enough to host us. Now we've gotten so big in Nebraska that we have to take up all four like we take up all the cattle barns at fonder Park, the arena, the field house, too, for our social at the end. But we take every bit of it, and we use every inch we can get. So like running down when you like walk in. So when you drive into fun or parking, I get the three cattle barns, yep, and each cattle barn is just packed full of stuff for competition. So in one we lift up the back of it, we roll in some semis and we prop them up for the diesel tech kids to get work on them. We roll in, like CPR first aid dummies for those guys. We build robotics fields. For the robotics competitions, we build like a little maze for the urban search and rescue. For robotics, every contest coordinator usually helps bring in their own stuff from their own industries. So CNC machining, they all have their mills and machines rolled in, or we had them at CC CPI sometimes too. And we also do stuff off site. For example, our heavy machinery operations. We have that, I believe, at CCC here in Grand Island, we're Hastings somewhere between there. We have kids roll out on excavators and stuff. And one of my friends actually tipped his excavator during his practice. My gosh, yeah, he flipped it over. He fell in a hole. Yeah, he didn't win that year, but he learned something, though, yeah, he really did. So yeah, we have a lot come like, mostly our whole second day of our state conference in Grand Island is just competitions throughout all the barns, and then also in the arena too. We use the stage for opening closing ceremonies, which is another competition. And then we use all the conference the Boston conference rooms along the side. We use all of those too for things like job skill demo, extemporaneous speaking Quiz Bowl, health knowledge bowl, stuff like that. So we use every inch of the place that we can.

 

Mitchell Roush  10:10

It's incredible to see that whole setup and to see Skills USA just take over the Fonner Park area, because you've got hundreds of students coming from all over the state, 1000s of students coming from all over the state to come and participate in this once a year CTE focused event.

 

Max Mendez  10:27

Oh, yeah, it's truly amazing. It's not just students, too. We also have a VIP session at the beginning of our second day of state, and that's where we bring in a lot of our business partners, yeah, a lot of people. We want to be future partners with members of organizations like the Nebraska Board of Education and sometimes our centers attend when they can. Usually they can't, though, because it's like on, you know, a day when they have, yeah, when legislation is in session, so they can't come, but they still make an appearance. But we really just that's also a big thing, is we get those people involved so they can see how beneficial it is and how they should be investing in this for the future of their students. And, into the future of Nebraska, yeah.

 

Mitchell Roush  11:02

And so thinking beyond Grand Island Senior High, you know, Skills USA has been a very big part of your high school experience, and you've had some opportunities to expand your leadership opportunities in that arena. So talk to me how you've found yourself being a student voice leading these efforts, not just in senior high, but at, like, a state level.

 

Max Mendez  11:23

So for a past two years, I've been a state officer, and I've which means I was elected by the Nebraska delegation to lead the state of Nebraska. There's only seven US elected each year, so to be chosen from 2000 kids to be one of those seven is, like amazing, and it's definitely give me a lot of amazing opportunities to lead and to hop into leading, like events and stuff. So US state officers, we've had to lead different multiple events each year. We lead a fall Leadership Conference. We lead to one for the east and west of Nebraska. We host a national conference called the Mid America conference, and that's amazing. That's definitely given me a bigger sorry. Tell me, just expand my leadership and see the bigger picture with meeting all these people from across the nation who also do Skills USA, yeah? Like, for example, this last year, Mid America, we had someone from each major district of Skills USA. There's five regions of Skills USA. We had someone from every district attending. That's awesome. And I invited the national director to come, and she showed up, and it was, it was awesome. That's legit, yeah? So, I mean, this really just give me a lot of opportunities to just step into leadership and, like, be in front of all these people and be someone these people look up to. That's something crazy to me. Still, people look up to me. And I'm like, guys, I don't know why. Guys, I have no idea what I'm doing. We're figuring it out along the way. Yeah. Kind of just make it up with they always ask me, How are you so confident? How do you are you so calm? I'm like, I honestly have no clue, guys, I'm kind of just, I'm making it up as we go.

 

Mitchell Roush  12:47

And that's okay, but you're it's kind of this twofold thing, where you're gaining opportunities to sharpen your skills, to get experiences, but these experiences that you're gaining are directly impacting, like, giving a positive impact to students all across the state and in the region, which is really cool.

 

Max Mendez  13:03

Yeah, yeah. That's definitely one of my favorite things, is the impact me as an officer, like, what I have on people? Yeah, it's like, when I tell someone I believe in them, or when I tell someone, like, Hey, that was really cool. That was a great job. You know, the I don't know, just makes their day better because they're like, Oh, someone who's like, a leader thinks I have value. That's what my favorite things to do, is just support others and help them. Others and help them reach their goal. You know, help them become the next state officer. Help them become the next state champion.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:27

One of the things that's connected to Skills USA is something that we call CTE, Career, Technical based education. Yes, and I know that that is a passion of yours. And I wonder, sometimes I think I wonder there can be like, a misconception about CTE, mainly because maybe people don't truly know how expansive that is. And so sometimes I think some folks can misunderstand that maybe CTE is only for students who don't want to go to a traditional four year college, or maybe they don't understand all the different things that CTE touches. So as someone who lives and breathes this world of CTE, how do you explain the advantages that you get through career and technical education?

 

Max Mendez  14:08

You know, I think there is, I think you're right. There is a big misconception with it, because people only see it as like. They see like, you know, career technical education as a way to go to, like, a blue collared career, you know, like, yeah, skilled labor, something you just need, like, a trade school, or no trade or no school at all for and I think that's, that's really wrong, because skill, Career, Technical Education, expands into four year education, education that's preparing you for a skilled job. And I think really, any kind of job counts as skilled labor, you know, because engineers, that's that's a skill that takes something I can do, health care, that requires skills other people can do. So I think the misconception is that, oh, these is just for these basic jobs. No. CTE expands into the four year university expands into two year colleges expands into not needing any colleges. It covers everything, and it's an amazing opportunity for students, because it prepares them for the real world. It's not like your mathematics. Class where you're taking, like, calculus or something, and you're not going to do engineering or or like architecture, if you're not doing engineering architecture, you probably don't need calculus. But career technical education, like classes like, you know, CPR, first aid, engine design, sorry, engine repair, or CNC machining, all those classes, and all those can help you get a job in the future. And that's really just the benefit of CTE. Is just CTE is just preparing students for a job in the future.

 

Mitchell Roush  15:25

And it's all of those things like you talked about, right? Like there's something very honorable in realizing, you know what, I do want to go work in the trades. But there's also something very honorable about saying, like, I want to go get my medical degree or anywhere in between, and CTE covers all of that. Oh yeah, you know you were telling me. You were telling me Off mic before we started hitting recording. You want to go into respiratory therapy? You're in the Medical Academy right now, right? Like, I think, I think that's something that's easy to miss when we think about the stereotypes of CTE. Yeah, that's definitely true.

 

Max Mendez  15:53

Because respiratory therapy, I think, is definitely, it's definitely a non traditional, it's definitely like a skills trades kind of thing. Because respiratory therapy, you only need a two year degree to get going. Year degree to get going in it. Yeah, and that's not a four year degree. And a lot of people would see that two year degree from community colleges. Oh, but no, it's, it's his job in the healthcare just as, like, a nurses, you know. And a lot of people have a misconception that if you're in CTE, just gonna be, you know, working, working, working all the time, and not, like, not like, your education isn't as expansive as it would be if you were in a four year college. That's just, that's just not true.

 

Mitchell Roush  16:25

The keys that CTE gives you to unlock so many different opportunities, that's that's really what it's after. And again, there's, there's honor in going and working a blue collar job right out of high school, and there's honor in going out and getting certified to do Respiratory Therapy. There's honor in all of these sorts of things. And I love that through things like Skills USA and the academies at the high school, you're able to gain those types of experiences that maybe you wouldn't get in a different type of classroom.

 

Max Mendez  16:53

Oh, yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely a huge benefit. And like you mentioned, the academies, I think the academy model is great because, you know, it's specifically preparing students for an area that they might be interested in. And like, I can't speak for many of the other academies, because I don't really know much about that. You know your experience, yeah, experience. And I know that, like, through the medical academy, they do have CTE courses. And you like, we have the option to go get our CNA or medication, a license or EMT license. You know, we have a lot of opportunities to learn stuff and like, get certifications that will help us in the future. And like, that's definitely, like, a big benefit of the academy model is that it helps. It has a lot more CTE in it, which helps prepare students a lot more for their future.

 

GIPS COMMERCIAL  17:38

It's time to register for Pre-School! That's right. Grand Island Public Schools is now registering students for their preschool program. Children who are four years old by July 31 are eligible to register for preschool, and children who are verified for special education at three years old are also eligible. Preschool is a great way for children to spark creativity and to learn how to learn. So go to gips.org/registration, to register. It'stime to register for preschool at Grand Island Public Schools!

 

Mitchell Roush  18:14

So you're a senior Max, and you're going to graduate in a couple of months, which is probably crazy to think about. Yeah, it's going to be here before you know it. So as you think about kind of that passing of the torch, you've been a very influential, positive and vocal leader in some of these areas here at the senior high. So if you could sit down with a freshman who might be nervous about joining one of the CTE focused pathways, or talking to someone who's early in their Skills USA experience, or robotics. I know robotics is really important to you, too. If you could talk to a freshman who's interested in those sorts of things, but maybe a little bit nervous, what would you share with them to help them feel more confident about pursuing those opportunities?

 

Max Mendez  18:54

I tell them one thing for sure is, don't be like. Don't let your like, doubt or your nervousness, stop you from trying it. Because I'm gonna be honest, I've been nervous and doubtful, like, the entire time I've done stuff, everything is, like, always nerve wracking. Yeah, like being nervous and scared and worried and like thinking, Oh, if I don't do well, what if I, with this goes bad? You know, that's a normal thing. Everyone thinks of like a lot of people don't admit to it, but everyone thinks at some point, we're all nervous, we're all scared. So I tell that kid, hey, don't let it stop you. Don't let doubt hold you back. You know, just, just go for it. Just jump in. You know, what's the word? The worst that happens is it doesn't work out. Yeah, oh, well, at least you, at least you had the courage to try something new.

 

Mitchell Roush  19:32

You know, even if it doesn't go the way you think it will, it's going to be a learning experience, exactly, and that, and that means a great deal, because you're going to learn from that, and the next time is going to be even better.

 

Max Mendez  19:42

Oh yeah, that's, that's, that's really is, like, if I tell the kid, you know, don't be afraid to fail, because failing is how you learn. You know, Alex told me that one in robotics. He said, like, our first year in robotics, like we weren't exactly the greatest team. It was. It was not a pretty sight. It was not the best. But he told. Told us every week, he's like, Hey guys, listen, I know we're not gonna do the best, but hey, you know, it's only a loss if we learned absolutely nothing right from this week.

 

Mitchell Roush  20:07

And at a base level, you're still building bots, you're still programming it, and you'll and you're still learning, maybe the hard way, what works and what doesn't. Exactly there's value in that.

 

Max Mendez  20:17

Exactly there's value through the failure, it's learning and like, Well, I tell some people in Skills USA, they're like, worried to run for state office. Oh, what if I don't win? What if I, what if I break down on stage? I'm like, Listen, you can't do worse than I did. I stood up and forgot my name my first time. You can only go up from there exactly. I just tell people, don't be afraid to fail, you know, because, I mean, at least you tried something, at least you gave it a shot. Yeah. You know, a lot of kids and skills. You say they're afraid to, you know, go out and do stuff. But, you know, eventually they'll gain the confidence too, through the organization. But for those who are extra scared, I tell them, you know, just, just hop in. Just go for the ride.

 

Mitchell Roush  20:52

Dive in. Go for the ride. See what you learn. And you might find yourself in the, you know, looking at some pretty great opportunities as well. Yeah, it's

 

Max Mendez  20:59

definitely some amazing opportunities. I've met a lot of people who began a lot of opportunities from Skills USA, and who give skills, you say, credit for all the amazing things that they're doing now, after after high school, it's pretty great.

 

Mitchell Roush  21:10

That is so cool. So Max, I do want to ask you one more question before we close up here. So you've you've been a GIPS student, you were started at Dodge, went to bar, and now you're here at Senior High, getting ready to graduate, when you think about your experiences at Grand Island Public Schools, what's one thing about public education you want people to know about?

 

Max Mendez  21:29

I think I want people to know about it is public education. I want the people to know that it's not as bad as people think. I think there's always a misconception that like public education is terrible, and like going to like a public school is kind of like not setting kids up in the best way for success. But I think that's a big misconception, because, you know, through my time, I wouldn't be the person I am without GIPS, you know, without going to dodge, I wouldn't have met a bunch of my friends who are still my friends now. Without going to bar, I wouldn't have met Miss, Miss Peterson, who was the head of the HAL program there, and she kind of helped me, you know, realize that I could do a lot more with myself, and, yeah, be a lot more, and, like, pursue education more and try to challenge myself more. And without the amazing teachers here at Gish, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be in Skills USA, I wouldn't be in robotics. I wouldn't be in HOSA, you know, I wouldn't have taken all these college courses and succeeded through all that, you know, without the people, and like, the people and the diversity at public schools and GIPS in particular, I wouldn't be where I am now. And I know the same is for a lot of kids, you know, they wouldn't be who they are now if they didn't have their speech coach supporting them here, or their their like coach and athletics supporting them here, you know. Or they if they didn't have the opportunity to meet their friends who are like here, the one of the big advantages, like Gish in particular, I think, is just the diversity of the student population. Yes, absolutely. Like, I've made a lot of people in skills, you say, from a lot of different schools, and like, a lot of different states all over the country. And like, one thing I've noticed is a lot of them don't have such a diverse school as great, great Island Senior High. And I really think that's a to my benefit, is because I have this opportunity to interact with so many different people from so many different backgrounds and cultures. And that's really just kind of how the world is. Because in the world, it's not all just one type of people. You meet everyone. You meet everybody. Yes, so, like, I think that's definitely one of the benefits of public school, is that you have the opportunity to meet so many different people and, like, prepare and just, really, I just enjoy meeting so many people from different backgrounds, because everyone because everyone's different, and they all bring their own kind of kind of life to the building, and I find that just amazing.

 

Mitchell Roush  23:28

That's a good word. Really glad that you shared that. Max. Thank you for being here, and thank you for everything that you've done to help build up skills, USA robotics, HOSA and opportunities for other students here at Senior High. You've made a lasting impact. And I hope the rest of your senior year goes well. Thank you.

 

Max Mendez  23:43

Thank you.
 

Mitchell Roush  23:50

Another shout out to Max Mendez, and a big thank you to him for sharing his voice, his story, and just really incredible to see all of the neat stuff that he's doing at Grand Island Senior High across Nebraska and beyond. Thank you, listeners, as always, for joining us here on 'The GIPS Cast'. It's great to have you journey along with us, and if you enjoyed this episode or if you enjoy our whole show, we would love it if you gave us a rating or a review on your favorite podcast platform, whether that's Apple podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen to us. And of course, listeners, if you want to learn more about Grand Island Public Schools, visit gips.org That's www.gips.org that is our district website, and that is your hub for all things Grand Island, public schools, resources, information, articles, videos and more. Thank you again for journeying with us. We'll be coming back at you soon here on 'The GIPS Cast'.

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