NCS premiers M&S Certification for HS students

Learn more about the program in Booth # 2753!

Students in five Orange and Seminole County public high schools and the Orange County Tech Center will have the opportunity to take part in a new Modeling & Simulation (M&S) Certification Program being premiered by the National Center for Simulation (NCS) at this year’s Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference. The program, which is the first of its kind in the country, was initiated at NCS by Henry “Hank” Okraski to stimulate interest and competency in STEM and to prepare students for M&S careers in defense and other industries.

The certification exam is aligned with the NCS high school M&S curriculum introduced at I/ITSEC in 2012. The Florida Department of Education is currently reviewing the curriculum framework and standards, and the accreditation of the certification by the State of Florida is anticipated in March 2015.

“We are delighted to provide this program to help students prepare for post-secondary education and careers in M&S,” said Hank. “By earning this certification, students will demonstrate their proficiency in the fundamental skills of M&S and will stand out among their peers when applying for college and jobs,” he said.

Lt Gen (Ret) Tom Baptiste, NCS President and CEO, added “This certification program creates a pool of skilled and motivated students who will be ready for recruitment as interns. And because of this program, these students will be better prepared and more qualified as candidates for full time employment in the Central Florida M&S industry.”

NCS volunteers will be promoting the program to industry attendees at I/ITSEC (Booth # 2753) to generate internship opportunities for high school students admitted to the program. Kelli Plumley, a program volunteer and Senior Human Resources Manager at Cubic Corporation in Orlando, has developed job requisition templates that can be used by other companies to establish internship positions.

“Our Orlando office currently employs approximately 40 interns at both the high school and college level,” Plumley said. “Cubic’s ongoing commitment to STEM education includes the Intern Workshop Series, which offers high school students career training, as well as ongoing mentoring, and exposure to possible career opportunities.” Cubic is also partnering with Orange County Schools, and neighboring counties to bring students onsite for Job Shadowing opportunities.

STEM students from Crooms Academy of Information Technology (AOIT), Sanford, Florida, will be taking part at I/ITSEC in the NCS booth (#2753), demonstrating their game-based emergency simulator, the Crooms Academy Emergency Simulator (CAES).

Through their M&S curriculum, Crooms’ students have learned that the best way to educate students in emergency procedures is to allow them to experience a school emergency first-hand, while keeping safety in mind. This simulator models the student accessible school campus of Crooms AOIT, and conditions simulate different emergencies that could occur on a school campus. Demos available at I/ITSEC simulate two different types of emergency: a fire on campus and a school intruder.

Students from Crooms AOIT, Hagerty High School, Lyman High School, Timber Creek High School, University High School and the Orange County Tech Center can pick up the M&S certification program application forms at the booth, or go online to download the application form at www.simulationinformation.com. The deadline for the Beta program application is February 9, 2015, in order to be eligible for the Beta exam and internships. For more information, contact Deb Yeagle, NCS M&S Certification Program Subcommittee Chair at debyeagle@plantowin.biz.