FLATE is kickstarting a new series featuring industry professionals, educators, and students about their experiences and journeys as they pursued STEM-focused careers. The inaugural interview is with Peter Cirak, a leading advocate for STEM and manufacturing in Florida. Presently, Peter is the Quality Assurance Director at Seal Dynamics, a global aerospace manufacturer e in Tampa, FL. He has served as the Chair of FLATE’s Industrial Advisory Committee and currently serves on FloridaMakes’ Advanced Manufacturing Leadership Council.
PETER CIRAK
Quality Assurance Director
Seal Dynamics
In this month’s edition of the “How I Started My Stem Career.” Cirak outlines the nuts and bolts of serving as a judge for the Florida Technology Student Association (FL TSA) competitions.
CAN YOU GIVE ME A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE FLORIDA TSA AND YOUR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ORGANIZATION?
FLATE and the Bay Area Manufacturers Association were looking for judges for the Florida Technology Student Association competition. Since I have served as a judge during STEM competitions for several years, it seemed like a perfect and logical fit to be involved with Florida TSA.
CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW LONG YOU’VE BEEN INVOLVED WITH TSA’S IN GENERAL?
I have been involved with TSA on a multi-tiered level. Prior to moving to Florida, I was involved with STEM-related organizations and in educational outreach in Boston, MA. Since 2011, I have been serving as a member of FLATE’s (Florida Advanced Technological Education Center) Industrial Advisory Committee. About three years ago, I was nominated to serve as the Chair of FLATE’s Industrial Advisory Committee.
Outside my engagement with FLATE, I have taught STEM-related courses and volunteered to participate in the Great American Teach-In on an annual basis. I have been teaching STEM-based courses virtually for the past year for the STEM Connect initiative. I am also involved in coaching students enrolled in the A.S.E.T programs at St. Petersburg College and Hillsborough Community College.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO JUDGE FL TSA COMPETITIONS?
I find myself fortunate so I only find it appropriate to explore ways to share my resources both in terms of my time and monetarily when possible. It is tremendously rewarding to see the things that young adults are working on and to learn what gets them interested and excited. From a not-so-altruistic perspective, it also gives me the opportunity to network with younger adults and guide them into considering manufacturing careers.
WHAT DOES JUDGING ENTAIL AND WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE SERVING AS A JUDGE IN THESE COMPETITIONS?
This is the second year I have served as a judge for the HCC Foundation Scholarship applicants. As part of the process, I start by reviewing several applicants before I start making comments or evaluating. I try to erase everything I know about the person and/or their backgrounds and focus solely on the content within the scope of the project. I pride myself on objectivity and I try to think first where that objectivity is being threatened so that I can keep my own preconceived notions and biases in check.
Judging virtually has greatly helped in deconstructing biases. As a judge, it is important to recognize personal biases and find ways to mitigate them. Over the last few years, several companies have started presenting rubrics that outline criteria to help standardize the judging process. Even without the rubrics, I always believed in developing a universal criterion that could be applied to participants across the board.
IN TERMS OF THE MOST RECENT COMPETITIONS, WHAT WERE THE METRICS FOR JUDGING AND WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT JUDGING THE TEAMS VIRTUALLY?
To be a good judge, one needs to be able to provide the level of attention that each team or student deserves.
This was the first year the FL TSA was hosted virtually. This presented some challenges in terms of adapting to the new format. There were a plethora of events FL TSA was hosting and I was chosen to judge three competitions. I selected the ones I found interesting and/or knew I could be of help.
I was assigned three categories to judge: Construction, Technology Essays, and CAD for Engineering. I was best matched with CAD for Engineering. I use CAD all the time at work. Engineering drawings are something I review daily. Given this category’s perfect fit, I provided valuable feedback to the teams/participants. I gave sufficient feedback/comments so that in case of a tie, facilitators and coordinators had adequate material to reference and decide the winning team.
WHAT PROJECTS/TEAMS STOOD OUT FOR YOU?
I have served as a judge for regional STEM events and science fairs hosted by the Bay Area Manufacturers Association Hillsborough and Pinellas County schools. Those are exciting to attend as you get to see what students and young adults are working on. Since FL TSA was a virtual event this time, I was able to seek work from across the state.
What really stood out, especially in terms of construction, was how local issues were driving innovation and cultural behaviors. The team from Miami, for example, constructed an aeroponic system—growing plants in the air to benefit/meet the needs of food deserts. Each of the teams researched community needs and their innovation reflected the solutions that were targeted to meet local community needs.
The students that are part of the TSA’s are taking extra initiative to be part of these organizations. In this regard, they are already ahead of the game. Seeing how students framed their perspectives and formulated solutions was so interesting and that’s what stood out for me.
WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS TO BE INVOLVED WITH STEM ORGANIZATIONS LIKE THE FL TSA?
Engineers often have a problem with what we call in manufacturing as “GD&T,” or geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. GD&T is essentially the language by which design engineers communicate with manufacturing engineers in terms of how to make a product. However, product designers/product design teams currently do not have a good understanding of that language when they graduate from engineering school. This gap is partly triggered by educators’ dilemma of not knowing where or how to fit GD&T into an everyday curriculum that is already overloaded. Currently, all states have Common Core courses that they teach at school. Educators do not have the leverage, both in terms of time and monetary resources, to incorporate additional material and teaching content into everyday curriculum.
Given these challenges, organizations like the FL TSA can not only help offset the impact of existing educational gaps but more importantly enrich students’ educational experiences. It is also important for parents and community leaders to be proactive in providing extracurricular education/training for students that are targeted to fill gaps that education and curriculum alone may not be able to fill.
Organizations like the FL TSA serve as an extension of what students are learning at school and help them gain hands-on experience in real-life settings.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR INDUSTRIES TO BE ENGAGED IN TECHNOLOGY STUDENT ASSOCIATIONS?
As an industry professional, I’m a big proponent of building connections with education. Whenever I hear hiring managers complaining about a lack of skilled talent, or challenges filling positions, I always suggest they reach out to the local academic community. If graduating students do not know about local businesses, what businesses do and the kind of skills/talent hiring managers are looking for, then it’s a failure on the part of the industry and education of students. It also serves as an opportunity for industry to reach out to local schools and school districts to determine how to build connectors that help build a pipeline of skilled workers that are prepared to meet local businesses’ needs.
You cannot start the process when students reach their senior year. You have to cultivate these relationships as early as elementary school so that when students get to middle school and high school, they already know about career paths and skills that they need to have to get a good job, or at least they are already thinking along those lines.
You can learn more about TSA and other Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) on FLATE’s website
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