When teams from our Student Powered Solutions (SPS) program presented ideas for reducing or recycling a troublesome waste product at a local ductwork manufacturing plant, one of their suggestions sparked visible interest. SPS presentations don’t always result in ‘aha moments.’ But they do offer business partners fresh perspectives and for students, they offer invaluable opportunities, not least of which is a lens for seeing the relevance of their learning. Teachers find this kind of engagement can spark enthusiasm even among hard to engage students.

In this example, our SPS teams were challenged to find ways a manufacturing company could reduce or dispose of a polyurethane foam that overspills the production line. Committed to environmental stewardship, the company was trucking huge quantities of the bulky foam to a waste-to-energy plant, which was enormously costly to do.

One student team researched and tested alternative uses for the foam. They created seat cushions and suggested using it for playground surfaces or as packing material. They even consulted a shipping company to find out if there could be a partnership between the businesses to sell the polyurethane foam to the shipping company for customers to use as a packing material, a solution that piqued the company’s interest.

The other team, an engineering class, focused on the production process. They studied the company’s extruder and prototyped new designs. They adjusted variables in the chemical reaction like time and temperature. Through their experiments they discovered that when the temperature was lowered to 50 degrees, considerably less waste was produced. At the final presentation, company engineers respectfully listened but when they heard about the students’ results the atmosphere in the room changed. The engineers leaned in, they asked questions, and reviewed the data. Changing the temperature was a solution that they had never considered and that they might be able to bring to their production line, providing significant savings.

Regardless of whether the companies find useable solutions to their problems, students invariably see the payoffs from SPS projects. And companies have piqued the interest of students as their future workforce.

“It’s really different from a normal classroom experience where the teacher structures the assignment,” said one teen. “You’re kind of on your own and you have to figure things out, just like you would if you were working.”

Communications skills needed to discuss ideas with adults made participating in SPS less like a class assignment and “more like it would be in business,” said another team member.

Students also get to see how what they learn in the classroom – science, math, writing, public speaking, etc. —can be applied in the real world. And by working in teams, students learn the importance of skills like communication, collaboration, and problem solving. Skills that students need to be successful employees in the current workforce, and in future jobs that don’t yet exist. Additionally, students get a firsthand look at career opportunities they previously were unaware of or could only imagine.