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Immersive Workforce Development Initiative Connects Students with Real-World STEM Careers

Key Takeaways

  • COSI launched The HIVE workforce initiative with Boeing support: The program received a $550,000 investment from Boeing and began with 250 eighth graders at Liberty Middle School in Ohio.
  • Students attending HIVE events participate in hands-on career discovery stations focused on aerospace manufacturing, robotics, engineering, skilled trades, and AI-enabled technologies.
  • The initiative includes ongoing learning opportunities: After each event, students join the HIVE network for follow-up workshops and continued career pathway exploration tied to local industries and employers.

The Center of Science and Industry (COSI), a science museum and research center in Central Ohio, has launched The HIVE (Human Innovation Experience), a workforce development initiative designed to help students across the country explore real-world career pathways in aerospace, advanced manufacturing, engineering, and emerging technologies. The project, supported by a $550,000 investment from Boeing, kicked off with 250 eighth graders at Liberty Middle School (OH) and will travel to 20 cities over the next two years.

The HIVE brings together education, industry, and community partners to help students explore in-demand careers in a multi-stage experience that begins with a one-day event featuring interactive career discovery stations, COSI explained in a news announcement. Students rotate through stations representing specific job categories, such as aerospace manufacturing, robotics, skilled trades, engineering, or AI-enabled technologies, engaging with "hands-on activities that highlight the skills, tools, and pathways required for each field," the organization said.

Each HIVE event is designed to expose students to career paths that are relevant to their local economies. The initiative is focusing on regions where Boeing and its supplier network actively operate and hire, COSI said, in order to connect hands-on learning with real employment landscapes and help students "better understand how their interests can translate into future roles within their own communities."

After each career exploration day, students are enrolled in the HIVE network, which provides access to a series of follow-up workshops and other extended learning opportunities. " These sessions are designed to deepen engagement, build on initial areas of interest, and provide continued exposure to career pathways — helping students translate early curiosity into sustained exploration over time," COSI said.

"The HIVE was built on a simple belief: that every student deserves to see what is possible before they are asked to choose a path," said Dr. Frederic Bertley, president and CEO of COSI, in a statement. "Boeing's investment in this initiative, and in the students we will reach together, is exactly the kind of partnership that turns that belief into something real and lasting…. The HIVE will reach students in 20 cities over the next two years, each one in a community where the jobs are real, the employers are present, and the opportunity to change a young person's trajectory is right in front of us."

"Boeing is proud to partner with COSI to launch The HIVE and help bring immersive, hands‑on career experiences directly to students across the country,"commented Michele Hengey, senior community investor at Boeing. "Our investment reflects more than financial support. It's an investment in early exposure to aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and emerging technologies that will build local talent pipelines, strengthen regional economies and create real pathways to jobs. By connecting students with the people, tools and opportunities that define today's industries, we can inspire the next generation of innovators and ensure our communities have the skilled workforce they need to thrive."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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