InspirED: A PLTW Podcast

In this episode, Marcus Painter, Director of Social Media and Community Engagement sits down with Jessica Tickle and Karen Hirschy to talk about the importance of Cybersecurity Education in our high schools. This episode is all about learning, as our expert PLTW teachers will discuss everything from fundamental Cybersecurity information, all the way through its immense impact on today’s college an...

In this episode, Dr. David Dimmett, President & CEO of Project Lead The Way sits down with Brian Bobbitt a PLTW Master Teacher, and Chris Woods, aka @dailySTEM and PLTW teacher, to open-up about teacher motivation/goal setting, getting out of your comfort zone, and ways teachers can make big impacts in their schools and classrooms to ensure that the 2026-27 school year is a success. Part of su...

In this episode, Rocky Valadez, Senior Vice President of Engagement at Project Lead The Way chats with three Biomedical Science educators to learn more about how to build tomorrow’s healthcare innovators. Today’s biomedical workforce extends far beyond traditional clinical roles like doctors and nurses. This episode explores how K–12 schools and districts can expand student awareness of biomedical...

In our latest PLTW Alumni Spotlight episode, Marcus Painter, Director of Social Media and Community Engagement sits down to chat with Sophia Craig, a Sophomore at Kansas State University. Sophia shares her journey through Project Lead The Way courses in high school, how they shaped her learning and future aspirations, and how the hands-on, career-connected, and project based learning she experienc...

In this episode of InspirED: A PLTW Podcast, Marcus Painter, Director of Social Media and Community Engagement chats with Tory Spanier and Seth Ponder about teachers can best Sail into the summer! All teachers will have actionable takeaways from this episode!  Sail into summer with a little help from a couple of the best teachers we know! Host: Marcus Painter , Director of Social Media &...

In the latest episode of InspirED: A PLTW Podcast, we bring together voices from both Project Lead The Way and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to discuss how our collaboration has already impacted AI in education, created a roadmap for today, and clarified a vision for tomorrow. You’ll hear how PLTW and AWS strive to make AI ethical, effective, and...

In the latest episode of InspirED: A PLTW Podcast, we bring together voices from both Project Lead The Way and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to discuss how our collaboration has already impacted AI in education, created a roadmap for today, and clarified a vision for tomorrow. You’ll hear how PLTW and AWS strive to make AI ethical, effective, and...

In this episode of InspirED: A PLTW podcast, Marcus Painter, Director of Social Media and Community Engagement sits down with three PLTW social media influencers to share their stories, vision, and advice on how to leverage social media to enhance their classrooms, programs, schools, and districts. Are you a PLTW teacher on the fence about creating social me...

As part of our celebration of National Engineers Week, we decided to invite an amazing PLTW teacher and two future engineers and former PLTW students to talk about what it takes to make their career dreams a reality.  Dr. David Dimmett, President and CEO of Project Lead The Way sits down with PLTW teacher, Christopher Desmond, and two of his former stud...

We kick-off Season 2 of InspirED: A PLTW Podcast by talking about our Community Impact Awards!   On this episode, Katie Minihan, EVP & Chief Impact Officer at Project Lead The Way talks with two exceptional PLTW teachers who also helped guide students towards winning the Community Impact Award.  High School teachers, Danielle Weber and Jason Huber,...

We close out 2025 with a very special episode, InspirED: LIVE from MasterMinds 2025!  MasterMinds is an exclusive PLTW event designed to bring PLTW Master Teachers together for 3 days of relationship building, professional learning, and fun.  MasterMinds was truly an amazing event this year, and we wanted to capitalize on having so many except...

In this episode, President and CEO of Project Lead The Way, Dr. David Dimmett, sits down with PLTW alum, Anyshya Hemphill and her former PLTW teacher and mentor, Christina Chandler, to chat about their PLTW experiences, the early days of Anyshya’s STEM journey, what she’s doing now, and what is on the horizon for her.  This is our first PLTW Alumni Spotlight episode, but we plan to do mo...

In Episode 4 of InspirED: A PLTW Podcast , Dr. David Dimmett, President and CEO of Project Lead The Way sits down with Dorice Warren, a PLTW Master Teacher at Mill Creek MS, in Kent, Washington, and Dr. David Conley, founder and president of EdImagine, a consultancy helping educational organizations improve effectiveness and strategic direction.     Let's dig into Transferable...

In this episode of InspirED: A PLTW Podcast, Rocky Valadez, Senior Vice President of Engagement for PLTW, sits down with Paul Ketcham, Superintendent of Batesville Community Schools, and Dr. Jake Allen, Superintendent at Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation to look at the importance of career connections that are built-in to what we do here at PLTW.      If you’re lookin...

One episode wasn’t enough!    Katie, Joel, and Dave kept the conversation going for Episode 2 by digging deeper into how Career Advantage is positively impacting PLTW graduates through Industry Recognized Credentials (IRCs), ability to earn college credit, enhanced work-based learning opportunities, increased Internship opportunities, industry partnership funded school/district gran...

To kick-off InspirED: A PLTW Podcast, Dr. David Dimmett (CEO of Project Lead The Way), Dr. Katie Minihan (EVP & Chief Impact Officer), and Joel Kupperstein (EVP & Chief Product Officer) sit down to discuss Career Advantage and how Project Lead The Way has been, and continues to be the leader in career discovery, career exploration, and career preparation for K12 schools nationwide.  #...