Carlos Alvarez, Principal, SLAM Miami

In an interview with Invest:, Carlos Alvarez, principal of SLAM Miami, discussed the school’s career-focused model, industry partnerships, and commitment to serving students in Little Havana. “If we help the parents, they help their children, and then we have two groups of people reinforcing the same message,” Alvarez said.

How does SLAM Miami’s integrated model translate into real career readiness for students?
We are a true academy school. That does not mean students take one elective and are considered part of an academy. At SLAM Miami, which serves grades six through 12, our exploratory courses in middle school are based on our academies and pathways: sports media, sports marketing, which is the business side of sports, and sports medicine.

In middle school, students build foundational knowledge of careers within these pathways. As they move from eighth to ninth grade, they declare an academy or pathway and then take four continuous years of coursework from ninth through 12th grade.

At the end of the sequence, students take an industry certification exam. That certification credentials the student and shows they are ready for the workforce. In sports medicine, for example, we have an emergency medical responder industry certification tied into the program. A student who graduates from SLAM Miami can be hired by an ambulance company and provide basic life support while continuing their education, potentially in medicine.

We also have students take a certified professional trainer exam, which supports pathways into athletic training. In sports media, we have two branches. One is sports radio. SLAM Miami is the only high school in the country with a SiriusXM radio station operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, led by students, driven by students, and with content made by students. They are live throughout the school day and upload content for the remaining hours.

The other branch is TV production, where we have partnered with Univision and NBC6. In TV production, students can earn Adobe Premiere Pro certification. In sports marketing, we have tied in the Entrepreneurship and Small Business certification. We ensure readiness by aligning state-adopted industry certifications with the completion of their coursework, so students are credentialed and licensed to move immediately into the workforce.

How are your hands-on programs evolving to reflect current industry demands in Miami?
One of the crucial things in education is the lesson, how it is presented, and how students are engaged. What a lot of people forget is the application.

Through partnerships with Univision and NBC 6, we teach, and then we apply. Students take educational tours of facilities. They see what we are teaching, apply it, and make a real-world connection. With our emergency medical responder students, through our partnership with Baptist Health, our students visited a triage area and saw it in action. Content that is being taught is then applied in the real world by putting students in a place where they can actively see what is being taught to them.

One of the important elements of education, aside from instruction and lessons, is making that connection and bringing it home by incorporating real-world application.

How do partnerships with sports leagues and media companies enhance student outcomes?
One of our latest partnerships is with the College Football Playoff Foundation. In our case, the foundation recognized 10 outstanding teachers from SLAM Miami and gave them each a $1,000 classroom scholarship to enhance the learning environment in their space. In addition, the foundation gave SLAM Miami $50,000 for a media makeover.

This summer, we will completely remodel and renovate the space for our TV production studio, including an editing suite, a lounge, and an anchor station separated from the lecture and editing area. That is one way community partnerships enhance learning in the classroom. We are able to revitalize, renovate, and re-energize the learning space for one of our marquee programs.

Another example is our partnership with the National Hockey League. Our students recently visited the NHL’s corporate headquarters to understand the sports marketing and sports media sides of the organization. Through that partnership, the NHL donated one of the synthetic ice rinks that players were practicing on to SLAM Miami. They are using SLAM Miami as a vehicle to promote street hockey in South Florida and start intramural leagues within different schools in the community we serve.

Those are two examples of how community partnerships are maximizing education and athletics at our school.

How is SLAM Miami leveraging digital tools to enhance learning and student engagement?
Every student in middle school has a one-to-one iPad, checked out at the beginning of the year and returned at the end of the year. Every high school student has a one-to-one laptop.

We use Google Classroom, and classwork and home-learning assignments are uploaded there and submitted for grades. We are in a large urban area of Miami. We have low-income students and a 99% minority rate, but that does not stop us from providing them with the tools they need to perform in a global market in the future.

Every student has access to a device that is not their cellphone. They have been able to transition from paper-based assignments to online submissions. Supplemental instruction now uses digital licenses, and students access their learning and instruction through those licenses on their laptops and iPads.

We also monitor progress through digital tools. Throughout the year, students take assessments that monitor their progression in their courses, and that is all done digitally.

What operational or cultural factors are most important to sustaining strong outcomes at the school?
I believe what Armando, or Pitbull, says about this. He says this in every one of his concerts, and he is one of our ambassadors. He was a product of Little Havana. He says there was one teacher who changed his life, Hope Martinez, who told him she believed in him.

I take that with me because I am an educator. Now that I lead SLAM Miami, with 1,900 students coming through our halls, I make sure we have built a team where it is not just one teacher. At SLAM Miami, we have a slew of teachers, faculty, and staff who believe in these kids.

It does not matter what income you make, what your life is like at home, or how many hours your parents work. I believe, deep in my heart, that every student, no matter their socioeconomic status, deserves a high-quality education. We are able to provide that here.

Above all, no student is known here as a number. Every student is known by name. In education, sometimes we get lost in compliance, submissions, and everything that requires time behind a desk. I work behind my desk after dismissal ends.

My calling is to give and to serve students, and to provide that hope and that inspiration that they could be a better tomorrow if they access the tools we are giving them. To invest in them, you have to build a relationship with them. You have to show them that you have their best interest in mind and that you are here because you are invested in them.

I have students who will be first-generation high school graduates and first-generation college students. They are setting the tone for generations of their families to follow. This year, out of 215 students in our graduating class, 25 graduated with an Associate in Arts degree before graduating from high school.

What initiatives are in place to ensure equitable access to opportunities and long-term success?
Part of it is getting commitment. We focus so much on building rapport and relationships with students, but I also need buy-in from parents and from the community.

This year, we aggressively started a series of educational breakfasts for parents. If I am taking this much time to educate students, then I also have to make an effort to educate my blue-collar working parents. We have hosted about 10 of these throughout the year, combining breakfast with educational campaigns and initiatives to educate parents on middle school, high school, testing, reading strategies, and other areas.

At first, maybe 50 parents came. Now, if you come to one of our breakfasts, there is a line outside the school. We have more than 250 parents attending these breakfasts.

Part of equitable access is not only investing in students, but also investing in parents. If we are pushing students and can get parents to push through at home, that is the trifecta: the student, the school, and the family. When those three work together, it is a recipe for success.

Parents may not know what dual enrollment is. They may not know how to fill out a financial aid application. We sit one-on-one with parents and teach them what a financial aid packet is and how it can help their child qualify for grants.

We have been intentional about getting buy-in from our parent community and focusing on educational initiatives that help them. If we help the parents, they help their children, and then we have two groups of people reinforcing the same message.