Bentonville Chamber breakfast focuses on technology

BENTONVILLE -- The city's educational systems and businesses need to work together to strengthen the future work force's skill sets, Michael Poore, Bentonville Public Schools superintendent, said Friday morning.

Poore was one of three speakers at the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce Business Matters Breakfast held at Avondale Chapel.

Business Matters Breakfast

The Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce holds Business Matters Breakfast once a quarter. Previous topics have included transportation, education and art.

Source: Staff report

"We're trying to change the tide of how we work within the schools," Poore said. "It's not that we're giving up on core information, knowledge and skills in math, reading and writing, but we have to add a whole other layer to better prepare our kids for the future."

Poore spoke about the skills gap that industry leaders have voiced regarding workers who lack science, technology, engineering and math literacy. He told business leaders that their companies need to be part of course development.

The district will launch a similar program to Kansas City's Blue Valley School District's Career and Professional Studies program next school year. The model gives students opportunities to engage in real, relevant learning through relationships with businesses, according to Poore's presentation.

Students provide professional services to business and nonprofit clients in the community by serving as interns. The program is designed to develop and sustain a pipeline to college and employment opportunities in Northwest Arkansas, according to a presentation slide.

Sam Dean, executive director of Amazeum, and Mike Graen with Crossmark Collaboration Center also spoke.

Dean spoke about Amazeum and also how a community can inspire innovation. Three of Amazeum's principals are curiosity, creativity and community.

Dean talked about how the museum's building and exhibits were innovative processes before telling a couple of stories from the inaugural Tinkerfest last year.

The festival of ideas saw about 2,500 people. It was supposed to have 31 stations but ended up with 32, he said.

The 32nd station was created by a student who had been experimenting with electromagnets at school. He bought out the material and a table and used the seats from a mini van that had been taken apart at the event for his station.

"He took ownership to be able to go and make his own experience," Dean said. "That's awesome."

Event officials decided to "let the emergent behavior take its course" after making a quick assessment to make sure his activity was safe, he said.

The event gave other creative confidence to where one woman took her Apple iPad apart and fixed it at home after taking apart a computer monitor at Tinkerfest. A few parents cleared out their garage so their kids could set up a tinkering studio at home, Dean said.

Dean asked the audience what the ecosystem for innovation is in Northwest Arkansas and challenged them to think about how to create it.

"Innovation is a habit. It isn't an event," he said.

It's also a trajectory that needs to be encouraged at an early age, he added.

Graen concluded the event by speaking on the technology inside the Crossmark Collaboration Center in Bentonville. The center caters to Walmart and its vendors as well as hosting community events.

It was created because of the 2.2 billion customers Wal-Mart serves each week, the more than 11,000 stores it has globally and the 1,500 suppliers in Northwest Arkansas, he said.

Graen described how difficult it was for vendors to make product presentations in the small vendor offices.

A video gave a virtual tour of the center. It also showed a large, digital interactive wall that's used for virtual store walk-throughs and shelf modulars.

"It's basically an 8-foot-by-16-foot iPad that you can connect up to six different devices into," Graen said.

NW News on 04/18/2015

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