Preparing students for their futures – including their careers – is a commitment schools maintain even as the shape of the future changes. Every day, innovations in STEM create new industry opportunities: automation strengthens efficiency, computer science improves accuracy, and robotics provide creative solutions to humanity’s most complex problems. For education, keeping up means evolving alongside global changes, finding smart ways to bring the cutting edge back to the classroom. For Lower Columbia College (LCC), such an opportunity was possible through partnership.
Tamra Gilchrist, Dean of Instructional Programs, and Michaela Jackson, Interim Dean of Education at LCC detail the school’s first steps towards expanding their STEM programs in the July 2025 issue of the Kelso Longview Business Connection. In partnership with Texas A&M and Pitsco Education, LCC ventured to discover the latest in science technology.
LCC engineering faculty member Firaol Fekadu met with robotics and engineering expert Dr. Momhamed Gharib, who invited him to attend an intensive robotics training course at Texas A&M and tour the school’s eight robotics laboratories. There, Professor Gharib showed LCC how teaching tech-forward concepts benefitted from a hands-on, student-led approach. With Pitsco’s robotics kits like the TETRIX® MAX R/C Robotic Set and TETRIX® FIRST® Tech Challenge Competition Set, students could apply advanced STEM theories in a practical way, experimenting with coding, automation, and mechanics to solve engineering challenges. These kits could change student outcomes completely: if more students could gain industry experience while still in school, it could mitigate the skills gaps keeping graduates out of good jobs.
In LCC’s home of southwest Washington—and all across the country—computer science, automation, and mechanics are no longer their own thriving sectors, but vital parts of all jobs—from agriculture to healthcare. Through support from major research institutions and educational technology partners, small schools can make big differences in their communities. Now, LCC, Texas A&M, and Pitsco are working together to ensure all students have access to the most future-relevant curricula; instructional mentors trained and certified in the latest STEM practices; and engaging, industry-aligned resources.
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