Rooted School gives students head start in the workforce

By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer

Local high school students are getting a paid fellowship post-graduation as part of the Rooted School’s Green Balloon Fellowship.

Rooted School, located on SUNO’s campus at Press Dr., is an open enrollment public charter high school offering technology classes. Students receive a full high school education, but all electives are technology-based. Students learn technology fundamentals while receiving certifications for programs like Adobe Photoshop, HTML, CIW, Autodesk Inventor, and much more. Electives include virtual reality game design, cyber security, digital media, and 3D printing. Students spend half the day in general education classes and the other half of the day involves projects featuring high-technical skills.

Kaitlin Karpinski, school leader and executive director of the Rooted School, said the school first opened in 2017 with about 40 students in a single freshman class. The school added a new freshman class each year until it had 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade classes. The current enrollment is approximately 150 students.

The Green Balloon Fellowship is open to graduates not just of Rooted School, but of any local high school. Fellows receive a paid, full-time job with one of the school’s partners. Companies that hired Green Balloon Fellows in 2021 included Ochsner Health, Entergy, Levelset, Square Button, Revelry, Skilltype, Scale Workspace, and Lucid Technologies. Rooted School hopes to grow the fellowship pool by adding more local workforce partners.

The students receive a full-time salary. Some use the fellowship as a bridge program where they learn more about their field of interest and save money they can use toward college. Others use it as a career starter.

Talia Livneh, director of programs for the Rooted School Foundation, said the program also provides the fellows with coaching and support. This comes in many forms. Fellows have weekly check-ins with a mentor. Conversations cover how the job is going, but also teach students “soft skills” they will not learn in a classroom. Examples of soft skills include how to ask for time off for things like a doctor’s appointment, how to approach a manager with a complaint or problem, and other workplace norms a teenager will be unfamiliar with coming out of high school.

Feedback from students and teachers about the school and its programs have been highly positive.

“Rooted School created another way for me to network and create opportunities for myself. Earning my Autodesk Inventor certification made working with prototype companies easier,” said Justice R. Matthews, Rooted School alumni. “Since I was already familiar with this type of software I was able to make a huge impact in my job and work for the CEO of the company.”

Teachers at Rooted School also lauded the school’s work with students.

“As a teacher at Rooted School, I have the opportunity to engage students daily and help foster their curiosity and love of technology,” said Jemiah L. Boagni, Rooted School’s director of technology and technology coach. “Here scholars are able to dive deeper into technology both inside and outside of the classroom. During the year students apply the skills they’ve learned to numerous projects allowing them hands-on practice, which has become extremely beneficial to them once they begin working in this particular field.”

Karpinski said New Orleans opened the first Rooted School. Another school opened in Indianapolis shortly after the New Orleans school. Rooted School also plans to open campuses in Vancouver, Canada, Washington and Clark County, Nevada.

This article originally published in the December 5, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.