-Ella has always been a different kid. She never cared about what her peers did
or said or thought. She follows her own rules, you know, her own drummer or whatever you want to call it. And she wanted her own look, her
own style, and she wanted to be unique. And she does things in her own timeline. -And that timeline meant no college. Straight out of high school, Ella
Show’s on a path to a biotech career. -So when you're making a cell culture, you want to be as neutral as possible a lot of the time. So you have to measure to make sure because if it's too acidic *click*. If it’s too basic, they'll also die. -Ella didn’t want to start racking up college debt
before she knew what she wanted to do. -Steve and I didn't have the opportunity
to graduate from college because we both ran out of money. -Yeah.
-I mean, if we’re being quite honest, right? So we were saddled with so much debt
and there was such a stigma back then that you had to go to college, you had to go to college,
you had to go to college. -But the old rules are changing. And Ella found a program
that could help her go from high school to hired in one of the state's
biggest industries. -In Massachusetts, we are proud to be the
global hub of life sciences. Number one in life sciences. The global epicenter for life sciences. -But to keep that spot,
the industry needs more workers. Life science jobs in Massachusetts
are expected to grow 25% over the next five years. So as more young people question
the need for college, the industry is, too. -You don’t need those advanced degrees to succeed in this industry. -It’s part of us, in biotech, getting out of the mindset that you need the four-year college degree. -The science has this, like - I think needs a demystification. It's not this complicated monster
that only select people can do. -Guys, this is so easy and fun! -To fill those entry-level jobs, there's now a focus on skills, not degrees. It's opening doors. -I wasn't really sure
what I wanted to do with my future. I really didn’t want to spend all of the
money just to figure out what I want to do. And I see a lot of my peers
that have gone to college have gone and have been unhappy with their decision and it's left them in debt. And it's a major commitment, really. -Come on over here
and we’ll have a bit of an orientation. -And like Ella Show, Brady found the
Gloucester Biotechnology Academy. Before this, I only really worked, like, food jobs: made pizzas, 7-Eleven, random corner store, stuff
like that, just to pay the bills. And it's nice that work can be more than that. -A lot of us have only worked things like -
which are still hard jobs - but restaurant industry. I've been at Starbucks for a long time, but it's definitely not a career
that I want to have for all my life. -They fly under the radar, right? They’re those people who are doing the jobs in the gig economy and working in the malls and in the service industry
and restaurants and things. And they’re behind the scenes and incredibly talented
people that we never think about because why? Why not? Why not them? Because they don't have a bachelor's
degree or didn't follow the traditional path that we sort of groom students
in this country to follow? -And so your extraction buffer needs 25 mil
more interest, right? -Many of them don't necessarily
believe in the idea of college. They want hands-on, skills-based training. If you’re given a skill, nobody can take that away from you, right? You have that skill; it’s yours now
and you can do what you want with it. And they like that idea. When I first got here, I was so scared to pick up a pipette, like, “Well, what if I'm doing this wrong? What if I'm holding this wrong? What if a chemical gets on me
and I get sick?” But now I'm very comfortable
with all the machines and such. It's a scary transition because sometimes when you like something so much,
you want to be so good at it and you're so passionate about it
that you just want to do well. -I think it's definitely changed my life. I don't think I would be on my own
or be in a position where I would be able to live on my own
without the Academy. I've learned about finances, workplace relationships, so much to do with, like, just jobs
in general and just life in general. -After seven months of training,
the students moved into paid internships. Ella Show’s in a lab at Northeastern University. -I have eleven years of experience
in the industry, but I work with people with PhDs, postdocs, and I see people
like Ella that don't have necessarily all these degrees, but they have that same
scientific reasoning ability. -Brady Barry got an internship at the startup RevBio, which is developing a synthetic bone adhesive. -I see students coming out of undergrad programs that know a lot of the theory
behind the mechanisms that we look at. But Brady's got the hands-on experience
where he wants to get into the lab, do things. It opens our eyes into who we can bring on
for these different roles. At the beginning it was very challenging, I think,
mainly just in my mentality. I didn't really believe in myself, but I'm realizing -
I don't know, I'm, like, qualified to be here. You kind of have to overcome that inner monologue, kind of telling yourself
that you really don't deserve to be there. But the truth is, I've worked to be here
and I'm qualified to do what I do. People on my team rely on me and that's very nice. -We're missing a talent pool out there. And until we start to tap into it,
not only biotech, but industries all over the country are going to miss out on filling those entry-level roles
that they're so desperate to hire. -And Ella and Brady have no regrets
about not making the jump to college. -It was really daunting. The first couple of days
I was really nervous, but then once I got to working, I’m like,
“Oh, I know what I'm doing.”
