WASHINGTON (7News) — Raytheon Technologies, which recently moved its global headquarters to Arlington, is now investing in new technology labs that will be available to students at four D.C. high schools: Phelps ACE High School, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Friendship Collegiate High School, and Friendship Technology Preparatory School.
The new labs, announced during a Monday launch ceremony at Phelps ACE High School, are the result of a partnership between Raytheon and a nonprofit known as ‘NAF’.
“NAF is a national nonprofit that has programs in mostly underserved high schools, that helps get kids ready for college and careers,” said NAF CEO Lisa Dughi. “The way that NAF works is, we need business partners to be involved in what we do in high schools, so that we can really bring real-world experiences to students, and Raytheon Technologies is an incredible partner in that.”
The labs are intended to give students hands-on experience with everything from robotics to 3D printing.
“I think it advances us. It gives us a push,” said Clint Ngwa, a current senior at Phelps ACE High School, a DCPS school.
According to the school’s website, Phelps aims to prepare students “to have OPTIONS, empowering them for opportunities in college and career pathways within architecture, construction, engineering, computer networking, and related fields as successful global leaders”.
7News spoke to Clint Ngwa, seen here on the right. He’s currently a senior at Phelps ACE High School and is already planning for college and his future career.
“When I first started ninth grade at Phelps, I was thinking about becoming a pilot, flying commercial, flying internationally,” Ngwa said. “But now, I’m thinking about actually building planes, because Phelps gave me the opportunity to think wider, think bigger, so now I’m thinking about building jet engines and designing planes, stuff like that.”
Raytheon Technologies donated about $1 million to help NAF open the new technology labs inside Phelps and three other DC schools. Raytheon’s team said the creation of those tech labs comes as the aerospace and defense giant is working to build a diverse talent pipeline for jobs in the STEM industry.
“First there’s the aspect of people, it’s important to give back to the community, but there’s also a huge shortage of engineers and people in STEM from all walks of life, so we’re here to really get involved in that and help bring up future engineers,” said Julian Zottl, the Chief Technology Officer for cyber protection solutions at Raytheon Technologies.
At Monday’s launch event, organizers said the technology labs are also part of a larger effort to provide students with equitable access to technology and mentors in the industry.
“We actually have quite a few students as interns at Raytheon. It’s a matter of getting them into the real workplace, helping them build things like resume skills, but also showing them real engineering problems and how we go about solving them,” Zottl said. “I’ve had multiple interns that are now full-time employees, and they’re wonderful employees.”
Ngwa, who will soon graduate from Phelps ACE High School, said he’d certainly be open to that possibility.
“Maybe! Hopefully,” he said, when asked if he hopes to one day work at Raytheon Technologies. “We get the chance to have this experience in high school, which I think will make our college experience easier and go more smoothly.”