A favorite media lament these days concerns the lack of high-school graduates prepared to go forth into design, engineering, or technology. That’s why we have seen so much push recently on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs for our schools. Industry is clamoring for suitable people wanting to work in a technology-rich environment, and unfortunately, too many students are coming out of high school either uninterested or ill-prepared to take on the challenge of a technology degree. The same could be said of arts programs. Budget cuts across many school districts have lead to drastic slashes in all types of arts teaching, from music to painting.

So, for many students, whose interest might lie in art or technology (or as we will see, a bit of both) they are on their own. Whether they succeed in bootstrapping themselves into their career of choice depends largely on industry support, parental support, and in the end, their own gumption.

We recently ran a story about a young man who is charting his career without the help of the school system. He is doing it on his own with financial and moral support from his parents. Jamie Goldstein is charting his own way.

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