Lake Stevens teacher turns ninth graders into tech whizzes

LAKE STEVENS — Karen Coulombe’s ninth grade students are computer whizzes.

They make their own animations. They design their own resumes. They build Excel spreadsheets to help the basketball coach decide who to put on the court and who to leave on the bench.

Last year, Dan Tedor, the Lake Stevens School District career and technical education director, was having some trouble with a document template. No matter what he did, the template just wasn’t working correctly. He reached out to a freshman in Coulombe’s class. The student resolved the issue with a few clicks. She’d just won second place in a national Microsoft Excel competition hosted by IT certification company Certiport.

Coulombe makes sure her ninth grade students leave her classroom with workplace skills and Microsoft Office certifications. In June, Certiport named her its educator of the year.

For the past nine years, Coulombe has taught Career and Technical Education at Cavelero Mid High School in Lake Stevens. She also coaches the robotics team.

Coulombe knows the importance of good tech skills. In 1984, she worked as an avionics technician for the Air Force and Dyncorp Aerospace, before spending five years at Boeing working on 747s. She also worked on B-2 bombers.

In 1996, Coulombe joined Edmonds College as an adjunct professor, where she taught soldering, networking and linear electronics. Then in 2001, Sno-Isle Tech asked Coulombe to teach an electronics class. This was Coulombe’s first time teaching teenagers.

Ryan Crawford took Coulombe’s Sno-Isle Tech class from 2002 to 2004. He said Coulombe’s course was easily his favorite because she focused on career-building skills. Coulombe taught Crawford and the rest of the class how to tie a necktie. Years later, Crawford’s friend applied to work at a retail store, and Crawford taught his friend how to tie a tie before the interview.

Throughout his teens, he had no trouble finding work, Crawford said. Looking back, it was because of Coulombe’s advice.

Now, Coulombe’s students compile portfolios of their work experience, including references, work samples and certifications. For the past five years, Crawford has talked to Coulombe’s ninth grade class about career options.

Many of Coulombe’s former students return to the classroom, generating a strong network, she said.

“Students connect with other former students,” she said. “I love that there’s a lot of connection happening.”

Grace Davis was on the robotics team from 2018 to 2022. Coulombe helped her join an international robotics honor society, Davis said. Other students in Coulombe’s network worked on wheelchair engineering and space policy during high school.

“She really encourages students to become self starters,” Davis said.

Coulombe has a unique ability to hold a classroom’s attention, Crawford said.

“It’s something inherent about the way she speaks. It’s sort of captivating,” Crawford said. “I can’t pinpoint it.”

Davis said Coulombe “tends to look out for girls” who might thrive on the robotics team, even if those girls don’t have the confidence to join on their own.

Coulombe helped Davis create a robotics workshop where 17 girls built toy robots.

Women have historically had difficulties breaking into the technology industry. The Seattle region has one of the largest gender wage gaps in the country, and according to census data, 87% of Seattle’s computer programmers are men.

“I definitely try to recruit the non-traditional student — and make sure that they have the support to be successful,” Coulombe said.

Coulombe’s classroom is entertaining instead of intimidating. She’s a regular cosplayer, and her classroom is an homage to her pop culture interests: An inflatable Spider-Man hangs from the ceiling; a TARDIS from Doctor Who stands in the corner.

M2-classroom

Coulombe is always searching for more ways to put her class on the forefront of technological innovation.

She won a grant from Safeway and Albertsons, which she used to implement the Internet of Things, a network that connects the devices in her classroom. When she says “classroom on,” the computers in her lab flicker to life.

Coulombe has also organized field trips to Microsoft and STEM nights with NASA.

“She’s one of the most dedicated teachers I’ve ever seen,” Davis said.

Without the support of Lake Stevens School District administrators, Coulombe said, she wouldn’t be able to take her students on these adventures.

“Not all districts are like Lake Stevens,” Coulombe said. ”Not a lot of schools are as open with technology, because it’s a Pandora’s Box.”

Recently, educators across the country have grappled with new developments in artificial intelligence. Seattle schools, for example, blocked OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

“I’ve been using AI a lot,” Coulombe said. It can be scary, but “it’s just a tool. If you don’t know what to put into it, you’re not going to get anything out of it.”

The subject matter she teaches is constantly changing, Coulombe said. She compared it to the resumes her students make. She no longer asks students to put branding statements or addresses at the top of their resumes, because employers have changed what they’re looking for.

“It’s always an evolution,” Coulombe said.

She’s grateful the school district is forward-looking and lets her focus on the kids — “what’s good for kids, what’s safe for kids and what’s going to get these kids jobs.”

Surya Hendry: 425-339-3104; surya.hendry@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @suryahendryy.