# Transcript: Game On: Reimagining Career Exploration Through Play **Date:** March 12, 2026 · 10:00 PM **Session:** [Game On: Reimagining Career Exploration Through Play](/sessions/2026-03-12/pp1162873-game-on-reimagining-career-exploration-through-play) ## Summary This panel explored how a partnership between Caterpillar Foundation, the nonprofit Learning Undefeated, and Texas educators is using game-based learning — specifically an immersive "breakout box" manufacturing experience — to reshape how high school students perceive careers in advanced manufacturing. After one semester of the program, students are 75% more likely to consider manufacturing careers, with several graduates already entering the industry. ## Topics `game-based learning` · `career exploration` · `advanced manufacturing` · `k-12 education` · `stem education` · `workforce development` · `hands-on learning` · `industry-education partnerships` ## Key Takeaways 1. Manufacturing ranks last among teens' career choices despite being high-tech and high-paying — immersive, game-based experiences can fundamentally shift that perception. 2. The breakout box model works because it gives students tangible, hands-on practice rather than just visual exposure through industry tours. 3. Building sustainable programs requires an ecosystem approach: industry partners, nonprofits, educators, and community all shaping the solution together. 4. Real outcomes matter — 75% of participating students became more interested in manufacturing careers, and multiple graduates have already entered the workforce or pursued further training in the field. 5. Educational frameworks like Dimensions of Success and science/engineering practices ensure game-based learning is rigorous, not just entertaining. ## Full Transcript They hear from their parents, they hear from their counselors, from their teachers, but they don't know anything about the industry. So that really set us to then determine what is the type of solution that we really want to put in place, but we also want to make sure that we're not creating a solution where community is not involved. So we really pulled together to see what's going to work on the ground, what can be sustained, what's going to be scalable, which led to the genesis of Manufacturing Your Path — creating very hands-on tools and resources that we need, both for the students but also for the educators and for the community to really be aware of what type of high-tech, high-quality jobs we have out there that we can expose these students to. But we didn't stop there with Manufacturing Your Path. We got on to figuring out what's really going to spark their interest. So we got onto this gaming theory approach with the breakout box. When I first walked through it, it was really exciting to see the elements of manufacturing come to place — modern and advanced manufacturing — and it also allowed students to learn what it's like to be in a workspace, to work with teams, to communicate, to really be curious and say, how are we solving a particular problem? So that's sort of how this came together for us. Before I transition over to Jeremy from an educator standpoint, educators are absolutely critical in how we deploy this and how this can be sustained in schools. They are the front line of education. They are who creates the bridge between what we provide as curriculum and what real-time opportunity is on the ground. Educators like Jeremy helped shape that to really bring elements to life at the school as we had the breakout boxes and the resources available. We want to make sure that we're implementing teachers with all the tools that they need. This is really building that ecosystem of a nonprofit and industry, the educator and the school system really coming together to build a solution that's hands-on, sustainable, and scalable. Jeremy is in his fifth year as an engineering teacher at a high school in Seguin, Texas, and one of our partners in this journey. As an engineer myself, I did not have an engineering class in my high school, so it's really exciting to see that transformation happen. Jeremy, in your experience, what parts of the breakout box or Manufacturing Your Path really resonated with your students? And how do these types of innovations in learning experiences shape the way students see themselves and the careers they may pursue in the future? As an educator, one of the most important things that we can do is have those engaging activities. With information that I provide in my classroom — whether it's a slideshow, a worksheet, testing them — that's great. I cannot fully confirm that they have acquired that necessary information by the end of the day. Ultimately, having that hands-on component really brings them to engage in the activity, participate with what they've learned throughout the entire process, and gives them the ability to practice. Practice is what really brought me to wanting to bring this experience to my classroom. Not only was the breakout box a cool experience, but it was an opportunity for these kids to see something that's in the backyard of the neighborhood. Seguin is a big hub for manufacturing. We have about 50 different industries within our city. Our kids have parents that work there, brothers and sisters that work there, and they don't fully understand what manufacturing was. They know that items go in, products come out, a product might transition to another location, go back in, come back out. But at the end of the day, they don't know what that process really looked like. The breakout box gave them that hands-on experience. They talked about the game-on aspect, the video-game-esque feel. You walk into a room, you get to see the lights, you get to hear the story that they bring to the experience, which really captured the students — got them hooked, line and sinker, ready to jump in and participate in something that was fun and engaging. The kids were able to go in and manufacture sunglasses, work through the process of each phase of the manufacturing process, from the designing to the cutting to the quality control to the shipping. All of these are different components, and they were able to learn how important each component was, how their job from phase one all the way to phase four mattered. The fact that they were in this experience, they were able to now see all these industries around them provide opportunities to them and to their future. As a high school, we can go out to these industries. We do industry tours where our students walk through and get to visually see what these industries do. But they don't get that tangible access. They don't get to practice it. Bringing the breakout box to your campus and having the experience gave them that tangible opportunity to put it into practice. The kids walked in with an unknown — is this just going to be another boring day at school where we go do an activity? They walked out saying, oh my gosh, that was so much fun. I want to go back. I want to stay in there all day. I brought them back to my campus twice. I've had some students do it again. I've had new groups of students, and not only for my engineering program — for other programs throughout the school. It gives them that opportunity to see what other careers are available to them, rather than just the CTE engineering pathway or the cosmetology pathway or the construction pathway. They're all great opportunities, but it shows them that there are other options. There's also the in-class experience that they offer, which brings the TEKS alignment with everything that we teach. It's an engaging, hands-on, tangible activity that our kids get to participate in and practice. Either I can align it with a study that I'm working on with them for a lesson, or I do it as a one-off opportunity for them to take a break and start doing the hands-on work. It can align with anything I'm working on, because I focus on working through processes, whether that's the engineering design process or working on a problem. This is a really cool space for these kids to have access to resources that I don't have in my classroom. Bringing this experience has been very fulfilling for our kids. It gets them excited and lets them have fun and kind of let loose a little bit. I get to see them interact in a way that I don't get to see in my regular classroom. Having all of that with their experience, it's also opened doors for my students seeing a pathway — manufacturing does exist and how it works. Last year my seniors — I had three of them graduate with a focus in wanting to pursue manufacturing. One of which, right before graduation, officially got hired by one of our industries in Seguin and is currently working at that industry. Another student who applied after high school is now working in that industry. Another student through our Texas BASK program available through TSTC out in Seguin is working to apply for that program right now, trying to get into an opportunity where an industry sponsors them to get their associate's degree while they get to work and go to school. So there are some really cool opportunities that this experience brings. I wish I had a teacher like you on my journey. We need more teachers — your passion really comes through, and how you've embraced the manufacturing program and the opportunities you're bringing to your students is really incredible. Thank you for Manufacturing Your Path and for having passionate teachers like you bringing this experience to students. So right now, just the breakout box manufacturing experience — we've got a year and a half, we've been to 22 schools, over 12,000 students, 450 teachers trained in the Texas area. So we're really having a large impact. More than half the students are interested in manufacturing content. That's not just "it was interesting" or "it was fun and exciting" — they are interested now in going deeper. It's a really important statistic to make sure they're thinking this is interesting to learn about. We want these students to leave and want to learn more. And they are — 75% are more interested in these careers. They're going to look for them. When they go home, they're looking in the town — where can I go? Is this something I can do? This is a really strong impact, and it's why Learning Undefeated uses game-based learning for a lot of our immersive experiences. One really neat thing about this is that we really do use an educational framework to make sure this is a successful program. Learning Undefeated started as a STEM education organization. My background is pure science. We're thinking about science and engineering practices every time we're thinking of that immersive learning experience. We think teachers are experts on content — you guys are well trained, you know what those kids need to know. Our job is to figure out how do we get those kids to want to learn it. --- *Source: stt · Language: en · Model: claude-opus-4-6* [← Back to session](/sessions/2026-03-12/pp1162873-game-on-reimagining-career-exploration-through-play)