business backgrounder | employment & workplace
and federal sources. The rest of the money for the new three-story, 72,000 square foot facility — roughly $25 million —
was raised by private donations, foundations and corporate donations.
The amount of private funding behind Raisbeck is just one example of how different the school is. The school,
which is part of the Highline School District, operates
as part high school, part career and vocational immersion program and part test subject for other schools
in Washington state. It is designated as an Innovation
School by the Washington state Legislature to implement new ideas and to be a center of STEM — science,
technology, engineering, math — education.
This means the school has a great deal of latitude to
experiment and try new things. For instance, the school
recently added several additional computer programming courses based on industry and student feedback.
In time, the lessons learned by Raisbeck Aviation High
School can help other schools that want to add similar
classes to their course offering or curriculum.
“One of the important things about this school is
that everything we do can be applied in various ways
to schools around Washington state,” said Reba Gilman,
CEO and principal of Raisbeck Aviation High School.
“The model we have established can be modified and
replicated for other in demand industries such as health
care and computer science.”
giving students important experience
One of the biggest things that differentiates Raisbeck
Aviation High School from other innovation and STEM
schools is the real-life experience that students receive
in their education. The school works hard to coordinate
and develop internship opportunities for students at
aerospace specific companies, said Julie Burr, program
manager for the school’s Department of Career Readiness.
“It’s been our experience that once a business discovers that the barriers to having a high school student intern
are lower than they expected, they really embrace the idea,” said Burr.
“Once they meet the students and discover their passion and work ethics, we find that businesses stay with us and even expand the number of
at a glance
opportunities for students.”
Students who attend Raisbeck Aviation High School have numerous
internships opportunities with a wide array of companies. The school
Raisbeck Aviation High School is defining the
initially limited internships for students during the summer between
role of education in Washington state.
“One of the important things about this school is that
everything we do can be applied in various ways to schools
around Washington state. The model we have established
can be modified and replicated for other in demand