Local educators learn about biotech industry at VGCC, Novozymes
Article by Bill Joyner for
You’ve heard the saying, “Big things come in small packages.” A new twist on that might be “Big things happen in small places.” And the most recent in a series of Big Things happened Friday, February 10, in Louisburg, NC.
Vance-Granville Community College’s Franklin Campus hosted the year’s first IDEA (Industry-Driven Educational Activities) workshop. This teacher-training event centered on two key topics: second-generation biofuel production as a subject for middle- and high-school students, and how that instruction relates to good jobs that are available in local industry.
School teachers from Franklin, Granville, Wake, and Warren counties attended the day-long workshop, which was led by staff from the NC Community College System’s BioNetwork. They represented many different fields of instruction, from biology, chemistry, and physical sciences to vocational agriculture and automotive technology, in counties that range from some of our state’s poorest to one of its wealthiest.
They had several good reasons for attending. They came for themselves – for professional development, and an improved grasp of biomanufacturing. They came for their students – for ideas on classroom activities to spur interest in life sciences, and for insight into nearby career opportunities. And they came for their region – for glimpses of a positive future, whose mere possibility many have doubted since the collapse of the local textile industry.
The workshop, led by Courtney Behrle, opened with a discussion of biofuels, and the main differences between the first and second generations of them. This discussion led to a lab exercise in which the teachers learned how to use an enzyme, cellulase, to digest the cellulose from previously-unusable forms of plant material (represented here by filter paper), producing sugars that can be fermented to create bioethanol. The teachers were given materials to help them replicate this experiment with students at their home locations.
Next, workshop participants boarded a van and rode to nearby Franklinton, where they toured the Novozymes production facility, which is North America’s largest source of industrial enzymes for food, fuel, and household items, such as laundry detergent.
Given an overview of the plant’s operations, and led by employees on a fascinating walk-through, they viewed activities in the R&D labs, QA/QC, and the pilot fermentation and recovery plant of the Optimization area. Such tours are part and parcel of the concept behind the IDEA workshop series, according to Tanya McGhee, Senior Director of Engagement for BioNetwork: “Many educators have very limited experience with industry and…the tours we provide are the first time they have ever experienced advanced manufacturing.”
Novozymes staffers patiently and thoroughly explained the functions performed in each area and, in doing so, described the types of jobs that might await students who are interested in the production and use of enzymes, or any number of related or supporting fields of study.
Following the tour, Novozymes hosted a luncheon for the group. This gave the teachers a chance to process what they’d seen, and just as importantly, to network with each other and with Novozymes employees.
After lunch, the workshop participants returned to VGCC’s Franklin Campus . There, they worked in small groups, using the day’s “takeaways,” to outline (very high-level) lesson plans they could present to the students at their respective schools. Potential applications for the day’s insights touched on everything from art to interview skills, and from PPE to motor oil.
A key characteristic of each lesson “idea” presented (and a common theme for IDEA workshops, in general), was relatability to required teaching standards that govern content in science curricula for public schools. Participants shared their outlines with each other in an informal show-and-tell session that underscored their newfound insights into the dynamic relationship between education and industry – even as it brought the day to a close.
Feedback on the IDEA workshop from both teachers and Novozymes was overwhelmingly positive. A couple of examples:
April Grissom, a science teacher from Warrenton, said “The workshop did a really good job making connections [between] our curriculum and the industry. I plan to use the lab [exercise] that we did when I discuss biofuels with my AP environmental science students. It [was] definitely worth the time.”
Arlan Peters, Head of Sustainability for Novozymes North America, commented, “VGCC has been…training students…to work in local industry for a long time. The ambition of BioNetwork, to connect educators at the middle- and high-school level directly to industry, to learn how industry operations relate to school curriculum, is invaluable to creating awareness and interest in careers in biosciences.”
Peters’ thoughts were echoed by Bobbie Jo May, Dean of VGCC’s Franklin Campus: “BioNetwork is a strong support system for our Bioprocess Technology program. [They] still have their ‘hand’ in the industry. It is an asset to have all of this knowledge and technology just a phone call away.”
It was a full day and, for many, a tiring one, but people left the workshop feeling better about the region’s future, and enthused about possibilities for relating classroom instruction to career opportunities in the growing biotech industry. They all left with instructional materials that they would put to use with their students.
But more importantly, they left with connections to, and improved understanding of, the biotech industry in their backyard. They had made contact with people who are living proof that intelligent life and rewarding jobs do exist – and, indeed, thrive – in places far off the beaten path.
Coming this summer is a 3-day workshop, the Big IDEA. For information on that, visit: www.ncbionetwork.org/educational-resources/professional-development/industry-immersion-big-idea .
For more information about the bioprocess technology curriculum program at VGCC, go to: www.vgcc.edu/as/bioprocess-technology .
A special thank-you to in Franklinton, NC, for both their hospitality during this event, and for their partnership with local educators over the years.
