First Lady Jill Biden was in Vermont Wednesday. As part of her Investing in America tour, she focused on ways to get students into the workforce, especially in emerging industries that don’t need four-year college degrees.
The First Lady visited BETA Technologies, a South Burlington- based company developing electric zero emission aircraft. What drew her attention is the company’s efforts to work with high schools and colleges across the region to provide internships, job shadowing programs and STEM outreach initiatives.
Dr. Biden spoke with two BETA Technologies interns.
Colton Poulin studied at the Burlington Technical Center while in high school and is now a Mechanical Engineering major at the Vermont Technical Center. He has been interning at the company since 2021 helping to build, maintain and implement flight controls. He was asked how high school students could find similar opportunities.
“In high school there was kind of a stigma around technical education being kind of a blue-collar type of thing. And for me I’m really grateful that I didn’t think that way.”
Fellow BETA intern Phoebe Peckham is finishing her high school credits through programs at Vermont Technical College.
“There’s a lot to be said about a classroom education. But there’s also a lot to be said about actually seeing how things work and getting your hands on things and really being able to build things is like so important. Having people be able to see the opportunities that are out there.”
BETA Technologies was created out of a senior thesis by its founder and lead engineer Kyle Clark. He believes in holistic immersive education with direct hands-on experience.
"The idea of an internship program, heavy commitment to the local schools, engagement with the local technical schools really had nothing to do with trying to do that strategically. It was a need that was fulfilled, and I like to think of it as the unbridled thought experiment of the student engineer. They’re creative. They know the latest tools. They’re energetic. They’re driving towards a mission-driven business. And then it’s the path I took. You know Jeff Glasby gave me an internship at Husky Injection Molding while I was still in school and it transformed my education. And so it’s directly aligned with the way I went through Essex Technical School and High School and then did internships. In the past year alone 2,000 students have come through here, sat in the simulator, learned about electric motors and it’s been spectacular.”
During her speech, Biden urged state officials to continue their workforce training efforts.
“Keep innovating in how you help high schools and colleges work together so that every young person has a pathway to the jobs that are critical to rebuilding our infrastructure, propelling our clean energy future and revitalizing our manufacturing right here at home. We can fundamentally transform what it means to make a living and make a life here in America.”
BETA Technologies reports that it has converted more than 25 interns to full-time employment since 2021. The company also hosts a STEM outreach program for K-12 students and a job shadow program for high school students.
