Reflections from the XR Futures Forum panel: “Grassroots to Government: XR Innovations Driving Community Impact”
I’ll never forget the moment during our panel when George Patterson, Senior Executive Director of NYC Public Schools, leaned forward and said something that stopped me cold:
“The school to prison pipeline starts in school.”
Let that sink in for a moment.
Now this may sound dramatic for effect, but the point is clear. We can’t control what happens on the streets. We can’t control what happens in the courts. But we can and must ensure that the environment we create in our schools provides opportunity, especially for students living in poverty in rural and urban America, students in temporary housing, and foster care students.
But here’s what happened next in that conversation that changed everything: George told us about his sister.
When Vision Becomes Reality
George’s sister attended John Bowne High School in Queens, a school that has had an agriculture education program for nearly 100 years. She wanted to be a veterinarian, so the school didn’t just teach her about plants and farming. They created a pathway. They sent her upstate for a summer internship where she lived on a farm. They gave her hands-on experience with animals. They connected her with mentors who believed in her future.
“Think about that equity gap that’s being filled,” George said. “You’re taking students from the inner city and teaching them a skill, providing them with mentorship, people to guide them. This is hands-on learning. This is experiential learning. And then there’s a pathway, there’s a track to college and career.”
That’s not just a nice story. That’s proof that when we get underneath the pain, we find power. We find passion. We find families and students who want so much more—they just can’t see the vision for themselves yet.
Our job? Give them that vision.
The Crisis We Can’t Ignore
Scott Stump, CEO of the National FFA Organization, shared a statistic that many parents and policymakers in America might want to hear:
Of last year’s graduating class—the largest high school graduating class America has ever seen—only one in three had any kind of work experience before graduation.
One. In. Three.
“There is not a lot of authenticity in the workplace right now,” Scott said. “We’ve got to bring it back. It’s imperative.”
Meanwhile, Chelle Travis, Executive Director of Skills USA, reminded us of the math that keeps workforce development professionals up at night:
- 2.1 million jobs needed in manufacturing
- 500,000 in construction
- 330,000 welders
And yet, only 1.1% of U.S. GDP goes toward career and technical education. We’re the least funded in the industrialized world for the very education that builds the workforce we desperately need.
The old approach isn’t working. The same funding mechanisms aren’t working. And as George so powerfully put it: “When policy is built around students passing a test, everything becomes all about the test.” Arts programs, technology programs, woodshop programs—they all went out the window.
We lost sight of skills. And now we’re paying the price.
The Answer Is Simpler Than You Think
Here’s where the panel took a turn I didn’t expect. I asked Chelle and Scott: “How does someone even get started? Everything in education is a hundred times harder than it needs to be.”
Chelle smiled and told us about 2010, when she was an administrator for the colleges of applied technology. She tried on her first virtual welder at a Skills USA conference. Then she brought her rural instructor. Then they brought it to their dual enrollment students.
“It lessened the time to completion. It saved our program’s money. We were meeting our students where they were,” she said. “But we had a connection gap—our parents and students didn’t see themselves in these education and training programs.”
Then came the line that should be printed on posters in every school district office in America:
“It all started with one student and one instructor. And then it all exploded when we began to tell our stories of the outcomes.”
One student. One educator. That’s it.
“You can get started with as few as one interested student and one educator,” Chelle continued. “And you change the state. And ultimately, in the position that we have the opportunity to sit in, you get to change a nation.”
Why This Generation Needs Us to Act Now
Let me share something else George said that’s been playing non-stop in my head:
“Our students don’t want to learn sitting in a row looking at a chalkboard. What Matt Britton just showed—they can’t even learn like that in their social media AI world. They need to be up, designing and creating.”
Generation Alpha doesn’t just want something different. They need something different that appeals to them.
And here’s the beautiful irony: The very technology that’s disrupting traditional education—XR, AI, immersive learning—is the same technology that can bring back the authenticity we lost. As Nick Moore from the U.S. Department of Education said in his video message:
“Field trips, workplace tours, interview prep, and even speaking live with an industry professional can all be accomplished through these technologies in a single class period.”
Activities that were previously limited by budgets and resources are now available in the classroom every day.
Scott put it perfectly, quoting Charles Prosser, the founder of vocational education in the United States: “The closer the training environment is to the actual workplace, the greater the efficacy of the training.”
Students can get real close to the workplace now. Real close.
What Happens When We Get This Right
I asked George a question toward the end of our panel: “What would it mean if we got this right?”
His answer deserves to be read in full:
“I think you really change the world. What I mean by that is you give hope, you give opportunity to those who may not always have hope and opportunity. When a high school student gets to experience the simulation, they get to see their peers go on to careers and then come back the next year—you create a silver lining beneath the storm.
“There are so many communities that are suffering, so many families that are in pain. What you’ll find out is that when you’re able to get underneath the pain, you get met with a lot of power, you get met with passion—families that want well for their students, students who want well, but they don’t see the vision for themselves.
“So you give them that vision. You give them, say, listen: ‘This is what your future could be.’ It doesn’t have to be meek and dim and gloomy. It could be bright where you could reinvest in your community.“
That’s what we’re really talking about here. Not headsets. Not technology for technology’s sake. Not even just jobs.
We’re talking about hope. Vision. Power. Purpose.
We’re talking about students who can see themselves in careers they didn’t know existed. Parents who watch their children try on a future that looks nothing like the limitations they’ve known. Communities that stop exporting their young people and start building from within.
Your Three Steps Start Tomorrow
So how do you begin? Here’s what our panelists said:
Step 1: Commit to Awareness Visit SkillsUSA.org or FFA.org. See what’s possible. Both organizations serve all 50 states, two territories, and DC. The programs are already integrated into the approved curriculum. You’re not starting from scratch—you’re joining a movement.
Step 2: Build the Partnership Reach out to your state leaders. Every state has dedicated leaders for these programs. Connect. Build relationships. As I said during the panel, sometimes it’s about what you know, sometimes it’s about who you know. Strategic partnerships matter. Relationships matter.
Step 3: Focus on Authenticity Don’t get caught up in bells and whistles. Focus on real-world learning experiences. Focus on outcomes you can measure and stories you can tell. As our VP of Government Affairs, Dan Risko, reminded us, there is money out there, but you have to show up with the right program and provable outcomes.
The Question That Keeps Me Up at Night
During our Q&A, a principal from detention education stood up. Tiffany Roberts. She said something I can’t stop thinking about:
“The youth on the inside with me—they’re there because working papers start at 14, but organizations don’t hire at 14. How does your organization provide preventative skill sets so that the kids don’t sit with me?”
It’s the right question. The urgent question.
And while our panelists gave thoughtful answers about personal and workplace skills, about programs in correctional facilities, about after-school programs and community schools, I think we all felt the weight of what she was really asking:
How do we reach students before they fall through the cracks?
Chelle’s answer stayed with me: “We can bring the business and industry to the students and those experiences to the students regardless of their age. As they’re discovering their occupational identity—because we know by the time they leave middle school, most of them have already ruled out our occupations, those that will give them purpose and belonging.”
By middle school, it’s often already too late.
Which means we need to start earlier. Reach further. Move faster.
It Starts With One
I moderated this panel thinking we’d talk about policy and funding and systems—and we did. But what I didn’t expect was how many times we’d come back to the same radical idea:
One student. One educator. That’s how you change a nation.
Not a million-dollar grant (though funding helps). Not a five-year strategic plan (though planning matters). Not waiting for permission from the top (though policy enables scale).
It starts with one educator who believes a student deserves better. One student who gets to try on a future they couldn’t see before. One experience that shifts from theory to practice, from hopelessness to possibility.
George said it best: “We take education and we go from theory to real-world experience. We’re able to leverage that with students, and then students are going to respond.”
They’re going to respond.
Our students want to build. They want to create. They want to be hands-on. They want to move. They want to design their futures, not just hear about them.
So let them.
The Invitation
After the panel, several people came up to me and said some version of: “This is inspiring, but my situation is different. My district is too small. My budget is too limited. My leadership isn’t on board yet.”
I get it. I really do.
But here’s what I learned sitting on that stage with George, Scott, and Chelle:
Every single transformative career education and training program they described started small. Started with one person who decided the status quo wasn’t good enough. Started with someone who saw a student who needed a different path and refused to accept that the system couldn’t bend.
John Bowne High School has been doing agriculture education in Queens for nearly 100 years—not because someone had all the answers, but because someone started.
Skills USA and FFA serve over 1.4 million students combined—not because they had perfect conditions, but because they focused on outcomes and told their stories.
The 421 community schools in New York City providing wraparound services exist not because the system was ready, but because leaders like George fought to create them.
Every revolution starts with one.
So here’s my invitation to you:
Find your one student. Find your one educator. Tell one story about one outcome.
And then watch what happens when that silver lining you create beneath the storm starts spreading to other students, other classrooms, other communities.
As Chelle said: “You change the state. And ultimately, you get to change a nation.”
Let’s get to work.
Bharani Rajakumar moderated the “Grassroots to Government” panel at the XR Futures Forum 2025. He is passionate about connecting communities from the grassroots level to national policy to transform education and workforce development through innovation and partnership.
Want to start your own journey?
- Skills USA: SkillsUSA.org
- National FFA: FFA.org
- Learn about NYC Community Schools and wraparound services through NYC Public Schools
- Connect with your state CTE leaders to explore approved programs in your area
Because every student deserves to see what their future could be.
