portraits
» AMARILLO ISD
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The spotlight on careers in science,
technology, engineering and math,
the
STEM careers, has never been brighter. Graduates
with STEM degrees make more money and will
have a lifetime of open doors on their career path.
“Th
e careers in science, technology, engineering
and math are the number one growing fi elds in the
nation. Th
ere are so many jobs out there without
the qualifi ed workers needed,” says Bonham
Middle School science teacher Kimberly Irving.
In fact, millions of STEM jobs will go unfi lled this
year, some of them even locally. “Our hope is if we
can get students interested in STEM now, they’ll
be the ones who can fi ll those jobs.”
From “makerspace” labs in elementary schools
to middle school classes designing problem-
solving projects for 3D printing to our high school
career and technical education opportunities,
STEM education is a priority in AISD.
Portraits found some of the District’s STEM
superstars at work, investigating ink chemistry,
engineering complex structures and farming
without soil. Th
ese are the jobs—and the
experts—of the future.
In a quiet lab at the Amarillo
Center for Advanced Learning, a
trio of students are growing lettuce.
There is no soil and no sun. The
plants’ environment, built by the
students, is controlled by a com-
puter. Robotic systems control and
monitor temperature, humidity,
gasses and plant growth.
“It’s like our little child that we grew,” laughs
AACAL engineering student Luis Contreras.
When Principal Jay Barrett asked for
student volunteers to take on a futuristic
farming project, three students jumped at the
opportunity.
“We heard ‘food computer’ and we thought,
‘Sure, let’s do it,’” shrugs Luis.
Th
at’s how the “Nerd Farmers of AACAL,”
as they like to call themselves, began. Th
e
three seniors, Luis, Bay Tompkins and Allton
Montano, spent much of last fall assembling
the plywood and plexi-glass to house their
crops and coding the soft ware that would
control the climate inside.
Th
ere’s a mystique to the project and how it
found a home at AACAL.
“It is kind of weird,” says Jay, remembering
how the idea of the food computer kept coming
up. Jay fi rst heard of the project last spring when
he saw a 60 Minutes segment featuring the MIT
Media Lab. MIT researchers have been farming
indoors for years. Using climate data from around
the world, they’re able to simulate crop-friendly
environments anywhere, even in the Sahara
Desert. MIT was looking for others to join in and
build their own Personal Food Computer. Th
e
thought piqued Jay’s interest.
Around the same time, Jay attended an event
at the WT Enterprise Center and a conversation
with local farmer Chuck Dooley brought the
subject up again. Not long aft er, he found himself
meeting with Chuck and entrepreneur Tracy
Shea to talk more about bringing the project to
AACAL. Someone else sent Jay a video about the
MIT food computer. “It just kept coming up,” says
Jay. “It seemed like we’d be missing out on a great
opportunity.”
Soon, Jay was looking for students to lead
the project. Plains Land Bank donated $500
for supplies. Jay donated a GoPro camera to