As a child, Camille White rarely sat still.
She loved building with Legos, could solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute and spent her summers in robotics camps. Her mother, a math teacher, intentionally sought out opportunities to nurture her daughters’ curiosity, while her father, a chemist, encouraged an early love of science.
Camille and her twin sister both gravitated toward STEM, eventually attending different historically Black universities to pursue scientific fields.
Today, White is pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Tuskegee University. If all goes according to plan, her dream job is working with NASA.
Looking back, she credits one stop along the way with giving her confidence before she ever stepped onto a college campus: Clyde C. Miller Career Academy’s Manufacturing Engineering program.
Lawrence Bryant | The St. Louis American
“That program prepared me very well for engineering in academia,” White said.
As students prepare to return to school this fall, White’s story illustrates what educators at Clyde C. Miller hope every student discovers through career and technical education — not simply a career pathway, but the confidence to pursue it.
One assignment still stands out to White. In Derwin Crosby’s class, she designed a block of Swiss cheese using computer-aided design software. Years later, she’s still using many of the same design principles in graduate school.
“It was nice to be able to create something, build something, work on it,” she said.
That hands-on approach is intentional.
Before becoming an educator, Crosby built a career in manufacturing, industrial engineering and logistics, holding leadership roles with companies including Kraft Foods, Nestlé/Sunmark and Cummins. Today, he brings that real-world experience into the classroom, introducing students to the same engineering processes professionals use every day — designing, building, measuring, troubleshooting and improving.
For Crosby, the goal isn’t simply to teach engineering. It’s to help students see themselves in it.
“That’s how you bring the next one up,” he said. “You teach them.”
His classroom reflects a different image of manufacturing than many people might expect. Students design personalized projects, explore robotics, use computer-aided design software and manufacture their ideas into finished products, discovering along the way that engineering blends creativity with math, technology and problem-solving.
The program’s impact extends beyond technical skills.
Judith Sams, Clyde C. Miller’s career and technical education specialist, said the school’s philosophy is to prepare students for whatever path best fits their goals — whether that’s a four-year university, community college, military service, an apprenticeship or entering the workforce.
“When they get ready to graduate, they have a diploma in one hand and an industry-recognized credential in the other that’s tied to the career path they’ve chosen,” Sams said.
Lawrence Bryant | The St. Louis American
Nationally, career and technical education has a strong track record. According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, 97% of students who concentrate in CTE graduate from high school, and many leave with the skills needed to succeed in college, the workforce or both.
White’s experience shows that career and technical education and college can go hand in hand.
She says the program not only strengthened her engineering knowledge but also taught her how to manage projects, meet deadlines and persevere through difficult work.
“You can’t do it halfway,” she said. “You have to be in it, focus, do the work. And it pays off.”