NEAAAT Students on their Portrait of a Graduate

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, host Victoria Andrews sits down with student leaders from Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technology (NEAAAT) to explore what happens when a Portrait of a Graduate becomes more than a poster on the wall. Kaylyn Rosado, Connor Mawhiney, and Anna Montero share how student voice shaped their school’s learning model—from a student ambassador program and community interviews to classroom practices that build collaboration, empathy, and confidence. The conversation also highlights NEAAAT’s flexible STEM-focused pathways (including aviation, biotech, robotics, coding, and advanced manufacturing), dual enrollment opportunities, and a clear message for school designers everywhere: involve students early, often, and authentically—because agency changes everything.

Outline

• (00:00) Introduction & Student Introductions
• (04:06) Student Ambassadors & Community Engagement
• (09:54) Pathways & Career Exploration
• (16:55) Personal Growth & Student Development
• (20:44) Advice for School Leaders

Introduction & Student Introductions

Victoria Andrews: Hi, you’re listening to the Getting Smart Podcast. I’m Victoria Andrews. Today I am joined by a few students from the Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technology, better known as NEAAAT. This is an amazing school. I was fortunate to meet some of the students at the FullScale Symposium when they were in the hallways asking participants to join their session for how they brought their Portrait of a Graduate to life.

If you know anything about Getting Smart, you know that we are huge advocates for Portrait of a Graduate, but not just living on a bulletin board or on a website or another to-do initiative, but really making sure that those competencies and those mind skills, mindsets, and skills are actionable and actualized by students.

And NEAAAT’s presentation blew me away, and so I’m so grateful to be joined today by three of their amazing students. I’ll let you get to know them in just a moment. And so we’re going to have a really great conversation about what it means to provide the space and the place for students to bring their voice to the table, what it means to value diversity, as well as bringing the Portrait of a Graduate to life.

So welcome, NEAAAT students. So grateful to have you guys on today with me. So I’m going to let everybody introduce themselves. Let’s start off with you, Kaylyn, and then we’ll go Connor and then Anna. How about that?

Portrait of a Graduate Development

Keylin Rosado: Hi, my name is Kaylyn Rosado. I’m a junior at NEAAAT. I’ve been attending since my sixth grade year.

I’m a member of high school SGA, High School Beta Club. I help with the sports teams managing, I’m a varsity soccer player, and of course a student ambassador.

Connor Mawhiney: I’m a senior at NEAT. My name is Connor Mawhiney. I’ve been attending NEAT since my sixth grade year in 2019. I’m the student government president, the Beta Club vice president, dual enrolled with College of the Albemarle and North Carolina School of Science and Math Online.

And this fall I am attending UNC Chapel Hill, and I plan to study business administration.

Anna Montero: Hi, I am Anna Montero, and I’m from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. I’m a senior here at NEAAAT. And I am SGA vice president. I’m the Beta Club president, and I’m involved as a stage manager for our theater program, and I am dual enrolled with the College of the Albemarle and North Carolina School of Science and Math Online.

And I am 99% committed to UNC Chapel Hill next year to study public policy.

Victoria Andrews: I love that, Anna, 99% committed. I hear you. And those are huge accomplishments in the various roles that you guys have across your campus. I didn’t mention previously, but NEAAAT is a fifth grade through 12th grade campus, and a lot of you all have had the opportunity to take such a strong role in helping design the campus. So Connor, do you mind sharing about what it meant to you to have your voice taken into account for how the learning model and what learning at NEAAAT looks like?

Connor Mawhiney: I think it was a great experience that dates back to January of 2024 when our student ambassador program kind of kicked off the ground. Me and Anna were two of the founding members, and we got to experience the development of our school’s Portrait of a Graduate and got our voices heard, and what goes into that, and what competencies NEAAAT graduates look like they’re going to possess by the time they leave here.

And so that was kind of the first, I would say, pivotal moment where I got my voice out there and I really felt like I had some say and agency in what was going on in the school. And ever since then, up to this year’s SGA term, I’m constantly getting a say, and it’s just been an amazing feeling to have agency and such control in my school’s future.

Victoria Andrews: I love that. And Caitlyn, you were one of the students that I met at FullScale, and hearing that Connor was kind of like, you know, on that team that helped bring those competencies to the forefront, but then you were a part of the student ambassador side that actually actualized them and, you know, talked to the community.

Student Ambassadors & Community Engagement

Victoria Andrews: Can you share what that process was like connecting with the community and really having a closer connection to a Portrait of a Graduate than most students do?

Keylin Rosado: So it was a really interesting process. We were basically mentored by the first group of student ambassadors. So Anna and Connor were in this J-term of January of 2025.

They were teaching us about the competencies and also how to speak and how to interview, and how to talk to different places. And our end goal was to go to Raleigh and talk to 3 major local businesses in areas and figure out if the competencies work. So I think getting mentored by students meant a lot because I already knew some of them.

And also it’s a lot easier to digest and be more comfortable in that space. And then going and talking to these adults in places where I would normally be more nervous to speak and I wouldn’t really ask them as many questions, getting to interview them and asking them about the competencies was really great as well.

They gave us a lot of great advice, and working a lot closer to Portrait of a Graduate means a lot to me, and getting to understand fully what the model is and how it’s exactly helping our students has meant a lot. Seeing it in fun ways, but also in a lot of smaller ways in the classrooms, like our students are truly using this model and using it every single day, and we just don’t know that.

So when I can pick it apart and look at it, it’s really interesting.

Victoria Andrews: Can you share a little bit more of what does the day-to-day look like to embrace the portrait or some of the traits of the portrait?

Keylin Rosado: So it really depends. Some days I feel like I’m always focusing on being a student ambassador. Like, they’ll just randomly throw us a presentation and say, “Today we’re going to help our teachers realize…” Last week I did a sit-in session with a group of teachers and we went over collaborating teammate, an empathetic learner, and how they can incorporate it in their classrooms. But it’s also everywhere in the classroom.

I feel like I’m using every single competency every day. We’re always talking to each other with the student ambassadors. We recently just expanded to lower grade levels, so seeing how they use it as well, Portrait of a Graduate, like we’re not always picking it apart every single day, and it’s not all that we talk about, but it’s definitely something I see everywhere in and outside of school, whether it’s at work or the community.

So it’s great to be able to notice what’s going on without having to talk about it all the time.

Victoria Andrews: Of course, and then nobody’s living and breathing it every day. It’s not tattooed on you. But also just hearing that you all at NEAAAT just take a more active approach and embed it in what you are doing.

And for those that may not be familiar, their J-term is when they allow the students to self-select a project, correct, and just bring it to life over a couple of weeks. Some of our listeners may not be familiar with that, so just wanted to provide some context. Anna or Connor, do you want to share ways that the portrait has been brought to life through some of the projects or activities that you all do?

Anna Montero: I can go with that. You know, as a senior, Portrait of a Graduate wasn’t really a thing until we were what, freshman, sophomore year. It wasn’t really there. And as for NEAAAT, we do dual enrollment. So Connor, Kayla, and myself, we all have almost a full college schedule. So Portrait of a Graduate isn’t something we experience a lot, but we see it in the middle grade students.

Even this year in our J-term, you know, we had a lot of students say, “I don’t really pay attention to it. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what it means.” But we spoke to some coaches and they involve it in their everyday life and their coaching. So we had a coach who, you know, they read a book in English class in fifth or sixth grade, and then they compared the characters and gave them a trait from the Portrait of a Graduate and things like that.

And when we are working in teams, we always do a team contract, which is essentially a paper where we go over responsibilities and rules of our team and how to handle conflict in a team. And, you know, we’ve been doing that before a Portrait of a Graduate was even made up. So I think it’s truly an unconscious use of all of the competencies in our everyday life at school before they were even started.

And still now, students may not know the competencies by name, but 100% they’re using them every day in their classrooms without knowing it.

Victoria Andrews: Connor, is there anything else you wanted to add to that?

Connor Mawhiney: No, I think Anna explained it really well. One of the things when I talk about incorporating Portrait of a Graduate into our day-to-day life, I love to look back at the evolution from when me and Anna started helping develop our Portrait of a Graduate.

And it was kind of something on the wall in classrooms that wasn’t talked about as much, but it was just up there if you looked around. And now it’s being incorporated into daily assignments, like Anna said, where teachers are bringing it up and say, “Hey, can you explain to me what competency is being used here?” And it’s kind of getting more and more incorporated into the curriculum. And it’s cool to see it’s not just something hanging up on the wall.

Victoria Andrews: That’s huge. Like you said, in so many spaces, whether it’s a small school or a larger district, it is something that is often done in a silo with a special group of people. And for many, unfortunately, there aren’t young people at the table; it’s something that’s done to young people, or it’s in service to, but they’re not even there.

To have you guys take such an instrumental approach and an active approach, and for your voice to be valued in such a way, I think is a great model and an example for a lot of leaders across the country, especially when we just think about the ways that young people are disengaged with their own learning. But to have, like you mentioned, Connor, at the very beginning, that autonomy and that agency to bring it to life is just really, really powerful.

I’m going to shift us a little bit in the conversation to talk a little bit more about pathways. You guys have shared that, you know, dual enrollment. We know NEAAAT’s focus is aerospace as well as technology.

Pathways & Career Exploration

Victoria Andrews: Can you guys share what those pathways look like at NEAAAT? And how did you get exposure to them?

Anna Montero: I can start. So from the middle school level, you know, they’re plastered everywhere, all over the wall. You know, typically what happens, your parents ask you, “You want to come to NEAT?” You know the name, it’s a little intimidating. You know, “I don’t want to be an airline pilot or work in rocket science.”

But it’s introduced to us essentially at NEAAAT. For the high school level, they’re kind of like electives. And so you have a choice to take: you can take aviation, you can take biotech, you can take robotics, and things like that. So you’re able to take the pathways if you’re interested. Typically students end up taking, you know, if they’re not super interested, they at least take one to try it because they need the elective course. And then if students are really interested in it, they can then follow up with the second course and then take similar classes, you know, dual enrolled.

So we have a student, Ryan, who’s another student ambassador. She had, I think, a scholarship to go to the National Flight Academy in Pensacola, Florida, from NEAAAT. She went there, she loved it, she wants to be a pilot. I’m sure she took all of our aviation and advanced manufacturing classes, and now she’s dual enrolled at Elizabeth City State University and is taking some of their aviation classes.

And so we just built our new career center, which is right across from our typical building. And it has very advanced—I don’t even know what half of it is—aviation and science things. And so we asked our local, you know, the Coast Guard base here in Elizabeth City and Hockmeyer and all these local places, you know, “What do we need in our curriculum? What tools do we need in here? What things do we need to be teaching our students?”

And so every class is extremely tailored to the needs of the workforce in our area and around the world. And so that’s kind of an overlook into our pathways, I’d say.

Victoria Andrews: That’s amazing. So if I’m a student and I have no idea what I’m wanting to go into, what does kind of exploration look like, even whether it’s high school or even, like you said, in middle school or the lower grades?

Anna Montero: I can speak unless either of you two want to. So for our middle grade level, one of our core classes is design thinking. So English and social studies are combined, and then you have design thinking, which is another core class, and it’s essentially a mix of STEM and art engineering. And you do lots of hands-on projects.

You know, we do anything from drones to health care. And that’s how I got a look into all of our pathways because, you know, we did a zombie apocalypse project where we had to create a medicine to fix the zombies, or we had to deliver medicine with drones. And so I was exposed to health science and aviation, and then advanced manufacturing had to build everything.

And so for me, that class was my introduction to it. And then once you’re in high school, you’ll hear from tons of students who have taken the class before, who have done internships at local businesses who focus on it, that they love the program.

Victoria Andrews: So regardless of if you have a clear idea or if you have no idea, you are going to be exposed to quite a few opportunities, like you said, in that design thinking class.

I think that’s an amazing class. I feel like there’s a level of metacognition in design thinking too, because it helps you to realize how you think and how you approach problems. So regardless of, like you said, if you’re not going into aviation and you’re not going to be an astronaut, just having that mindset toward problem-solving, toward looking at solutions, toward finding opportunities of how to fix problems, where most people may not have that paradigm to consider that.

Anything else, Connor or Kaylyn, you want to mention about the pathways?

Keylin Rosado: I remember middle school, like you have to take specific elective courses. And so 2 of them that are offered are coding and NASA biotech.

And you have to take both of them, whether I take coding in sixth grade and then NASA biotech in seventh grade and another one in eighth grade. Coding was really interesting. We did a lot of micro:bits and stuff. It was a really interesting course. I wouldn’t say it’s for me, but I like that they’re required.

NASA biotech was really—I felt like it really embodied me. It was just a lot of STEM. So I’m glad that we got those introductions before high school and that they were required so we could see if we wanted to continue with that pathway. I did not choose to; I chose advanced manufacturing. I wanted to check all of them. I even took an aviation course, so I did a little bit of everything, and a lot of them were really interesting and very hands-on.

Victoria Andrews: Connor, you want to share about your pathway journey?

Connor Mawhiney: Yeah. I just wanted to add that I think it’s key to point out that some students may not know, and the great part is we allow so many opportunities for students to explore different classes, even if they don’t know. And I tell parents all the time, as student ambassadors, we take parents and students who may be interested in coming to NEAAAT on tours around the building, and we get to talk to them kind of like we’re doing right now about our school.

And I stress to them: when your child comes in at fifth grade, they’re not expected to know what they want to do, you know, through high school. Like, they can change their pathway at any time. And that’s the great part is we have so many options. And so I just like to stress that you’re not locked into one pathway for the rest of high school, you know, for whatever you pick in fifth grade.

Victoria Andrews: Which is huge because, I mean, most fifth graders, they love one food one day and then something totally different. I know I didn’t have any clue that I wanted to be a teacher or in education in fifth grade. So just having that environment that allows you to move and take some chances—because why not take chances when you’re just trying out these different opportunities and careers? And you might learn about a skill that you have, but you may not love the career that is associated with that.

So I think that’s huge. And I appreciate your school for even creating that kind of environment that encourages risk-taking and encourages trying things on before having to commit.

What does it mean to be in an environment like that that allows for that kind of flexibility? Connor, can you share a little bit of how that has shaped your learning and your high school experience?

Connor Mawhiney: Yeah. I think all of the opportunities have shaped—I’ve kind of been one of those people that flip-flopped as well as to what I wanted to do after high school. And I remember at one point at the beginning of my high school journey, when I was in ninth or 10th grade, I wanted to go into sports medicine.

I’ve always loved the field in sports. And I didn’t really know what exactly I wanted to touch on in the field of sports. I just knew I wanted to work in sports. And so at first I was like, maybe it’s sports medicine. And I got the opportunity to take a class at North Carolina Virtual Public Schools.

And it wasn’t something that a lot of our students take. But, you know, we have amazing counselors that set me up with the opportunity to see if I was actually interested in it. And I took an anatomy class. And, you know, from that class, I think the first day of that class, I was like, “Not for me.” And I got through it and it was a great experience, but having those opportunities and the flexibility that NEAAAT provides, it shaped what I want to do after high school and it allowed me to explore different pathways I may not have had the chance to at other places.

Victoria Andrews: I took anatomy in high school too, and it was fun. And that was kind of like the determining factor that I was going to go into nursing school. As you can see, not a nurse. But it is great to have those opportunities to kind of try on something before you fully commit to it.

Personal Growth & Student Development

Victoria Andrews: I would love to learn a little bit more about some of your own growth being at NEAAAT. I know the school’s been around forAA a while, but you guys were a part of some of those early classes, and who you were then and how the environment of NEAT has kind of shaped or molded you to where you are now.

I’d love to hear from you, Kaylyn, first, and then Anna, if you want to share too.

Keylin Rosado: For me, I feel like I’ve grown a lot. I feel like in traditional schools you’re not given the voice. And I think the biggest memories I’ll keep are probably the behind-the-scenes stuff that we do: Portrait of a Graduate and all the presentations that we put together.

I think that’s really stuck with me. I like working behind the scenes, or like SGA, I like having that voice and making decisions for our school. So I think having those opportunities has just meant everything to me. Maybe in seventh grade, I was a little bit shy and I was really nervous, and I don’t think I could do the presentations that we do now or have conversations like these without freaking out and being very nervous.

So I’ve seen growth in myself, but also in the school. Like I said, we expanded, and getting to see even grades as low as seventh grade, getting to see them be so a part of the conversation of changing the way that we do stuff, it’s really big to see. Seeing them so engaged, it’s really cool. I thought that was very interesting: kids that young really putting in as much effort as even high schoolers.

So having those opportunities has meant so much to me, and I feel like I’ve grown individually, but we’ve grown as a school as well throughout the years.

Victoria Andrews: Anna?

Anna Montero: For me, it’s kind of like, what don’t I mention here? I think the biggest thing for me is my confidence. Not even just being a student ambassador—just NEAAAT in general. You know, we’re a project-based learning school, so everything we do is typically going to have a presentation, a speaking part of some sort.

Coming from public school in seventh grade to NEAAAT in eighth grade, it was a little later than most students, so I felt a little behind and intimidated. Very quickly I felt the opportunity in front of me was too great not to take it.

You know, as a student ambassador, you know, being dual enrolled at local community college, I have been forced to be confident in my education and advocate for myself when things are hard or things are easy.

And I think, like when I talk to my mom about this, it even makes her emotional sometimes how much I’ve grown as a person, you know, advocating for myself and others, and just the confidence that presenting and speaking and just working with others has given me. So I would just say overall it’d be confidence. Yeah.

Victoria Andrews: And I’m sure as a parent, to see your child evolve in such a great way and to know that it was based upon the school that they’re at. Oftentimes, I know when your school has more access to you than sometimes your family does. Like, you’re there 8 hours a day. They care and they nurture you. And to be able to see your maturation over a period of time is huge.

And I don’t know what Kaylyn, Anna, and Connor were like in sixth and seventh grade, but I’m sure they didn’t envision themselves being on podcasts or talking to other school leaders like you have with other opportunities with Getting Smart. So just huge kudos to you all to even take that moment to kind of self-reflect of where you are. And who knows where you’re going to be, even 3 to 5 to 10 years from now too.

So as we begin to wrap up our conversation, and you guys have just shared what it means to bring the Portrait of a Graduate to life, how being a student at NEAAAT has shaped your identity, and the opportunities that they’ve provided you all.

Advice for School Leaders

Victoria Andrews: Can each one of you all share a piece of advice to the adults that are designing schools? What would you tell them about listening to students?

Connor Mawhiney: Yeah, I think just every opportunity you get, reevaluate and say, “Can students be involved in this?” And I think the biggest example of this that NEAAAT has done, that I can give advice to other schools in doing, is when we were able to give our advice in the strategic plan for the next 4 or 5 years, I think it is.

Most of the time, most schools have strategic plans that are cultivated by their staff and only adults in the room. And I think it was the first time where I was like, this is an amazing idea. And I found myself walking into a school or somewhere like a week later and I was like, what is their strategic plan? What was the reasoning for doing what they’re doing? Did they have students’ opinion? Because as a student, I was like, this doesn’t make sense to me.

And I think having students’ opinions in strategic plans and stuff like that is just incredibly huge because it shapes your school’s future and allows students to have agency over what they want to see in the next 5 years.

Victoria Andrews: Thanks, Connor. Kaylyn, and then Anna.

Keylin Rosado: My biggest advice is just do it. Like what Connor was saying, obviously give your students a voice. I noticed some of the coaches are, and are still maybe, a little bit nervous with adopting new terminology and doing it, but we’re already doing half of this stuff, and really involve your students.

I noticed when we went to FullScale, my group, we tried to go to every single presentation that had students. If it had their pictures in there and said students, we tried to go. But we noticed that in some of the presentations, the students had 1 or 2 lines. And we really wanted to see them speak to the work that they were doing, and we just weren’t seeing that.

I think in this area we can be a lot underestimated. So it was really interesting to see us in a smaller, more under-resourced area having these big opportunities and doing just as well, if not better, than some of the biggest counties in the country.

So with that, for the teachers, trust yourself. You’re probably already doing this stuff, and it’s going to help your students a lot. We’ve seen a lot of growth with a lot of people. And for students, I think students should always be involved. I would always recommend Portrait of a Graduate, but especially a student ambassador program. You’re going to learn the most from students, whether that’s to an adult or to another student.

You’re going to get the truth from a kid more than kind of from an adult. You’re going to learn more. So I would say just do it. Don’t be scared. And let your students do their thing, because kids are pretty motivated when you give them the opportunity.

Anna Montero: This is kind of echoing the last part of Kaylyn’s. I think, you know, don’t be scared of what students can do. I think me and Connor were in an SGA meeting this year with Kaylyn, and we decided we wanted to go to New York for a senior trip. Crazy. We had never done a senior trip, never done a crazy bus trip like that.

We looked through all the ways to do it, and then we couldn’t go to New York, but we settled for Busch Gardens. And at the end of our January term this year, we spoke to Shelby County Schools in Kentucky and Roanoke County Schools, and we said, we want to go visit them because they’re doing what we want to do.

We talked to our CEO, we said, can we make a proposal to go? He said, if you can make the proposal, if you can figure it out, you know, we’ll give you the money to do so.

And so, I think students are often seen as lazy or, you know, they aren’t motivated, but I think when they are excited about things, they’re going to be motivated. So my biggest advice is give students the chance. You know, for us at NEAAAT, the answer is typically always going to be yes unless it’s dangerous. If we can make it happen, then, you know, we are encouraged to do so.

So I think my biggest advice is give students the space to express themselves and have ideas because the ideas may seem stupid or boring, but they could be really impactful just because a student is motivated about it.

Victoria Andrews: Well, I appreciate that insight that you guys shared. Just: do it. Get out of the students’ way and listen to the voices of the students. We’re not just building things because they’re cute and fun, but if they’re truly going to be for students, then they need to be at the table.

Connor, you saying, “What is the strategic plan when you walk into a space, and were students involved?” That is such a great reflective question. And even if you do just a little bit of digging, sometimes you often notice that students were not. Their voice was not included, and it hurts.

And so hopefully anybody that’s listening or watching will take the time to find some students, like you said, as long as they’re energized and motivated, and bring them along and let them know that they are truly, indeed valued. And not just tokenized to say, “Yeah, we talked to a couple of students,” check it off, and then don’t do what they’re asking, but truly, just like NEAAAT, value the talents, the genius of young people because it does really make a difference and it does matter.

So I am indebted to all 3 of you all. Again, you all joined us for the SRS a couple of months ago to talk to leaders out of the Missouri and Kansas area, and I’m just grateful to have you guys on the podcast today sharing about your lived experience and the beauty of NEAAAT, and how you guys are continuing to just forge ahead in your own unique path.

So thank you all for listening. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Hopefully you will join us again in the future. Thank you.

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The Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies (NEAAAT) is a public charter school in its tenth year of operation. NEAAAT is located in Elizabeth City, North Carolina but serves eight local counties. These counties include Pasquotank, Perquimans, Gates, Camden, Chowan, Hertford, Tyrell, and Currituck. NEAAAT serves students in fifth through twelfth grade. Students who attend NEAAAT are chosen by a lottery system after completing an application for admission. The student population represents that of the surrounding counties’ race and ethnicity. NEAAAT provides educational services to all students, including students with disabilities, English-language learners, and academically and intellectually gifted students. Free and reduced lunches are provided to economically disadvantaged students, who comprise 44% of NEAAAT students. NEAAAT is a Title I school.

NEAAAT’s mission is to be an innovative regional public school that inspires and prepares all students with the STEM-related skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to meet future challenges in the global workforce and their communities. This is accomplished in several ways. First, NEAAAT offers instruction that is enhanced with authentic tasks and tools in the classroom. NEAAAT coaches use Project Based Learning activities to develop high-order thinking and work-related skills. At the middle school level, NEAAAT exposes students to three potential pathways: aviation science, computer science, and health science. In high school, students can complete courses in these pathways to earn certifications. In addition, all of NEAAAT’s high school courses are honors-level courses. Students are able to take classes at Elizabeth City State University if they meet a minimum grade point average and have a teacher recommendation starting the spring semester of a student’s freshman year. In eleventh grade, students can apply to and, if accepted, attend the College of the Albemarle as a dual-enrolled student. Finally, NEAAAT supports student growth through regional internship opportunities and the requirement of community service hours.

Links

• Watch the full video here
• Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies