Suzanne Snow: From Curiosity to Career Pathways

How Suzanne Snow helps shape hands-on learning experiences that prepare students for real futures through her work at Project Lead The Way

In today’s rapidly changing world, the question of how education prepares students for real careers has never been more important. Suzanne Snow works at Project Lead The Way, where she helps develop and support curriculum that brings real world learning into classrooms. She works closely with educators, schools, and internal teams to create programs that give students hands on experiences in areas like engineering, computer science, and biomedical science. Her work focuses on making sure these programs are practical, engaging, and accessible across different grade levels.

Much of her day is spent aiding the communities and people around her. As she explained, “It is conversations around planning for this year and next year and beyond, so that teachers and students have resources to have hands on learning in their classrooms.”

Her Pathway

Snow’s path to her role was not planned from the start. It developed over time through a wide range of experiences, each one teaching her something new about people, business, and learning.

She began in the hospitality business, where she was introduced to the importance of customer experience and communication. Working in that environment helped her understand how to connect with people and respond to their needs in real time.

From there, she moved into a international networking company, which exposed her to a much larger and more complex professional world. In that role, she learned how organizations operate at a global scale and how teams collaborate across different locations.

She then worked at Nortel Networks, where she gained experience in technology and corporate environments. Overall, these diverse arrange of roles helped her build skills in problem solving, communication, and understanding how systems work together.

Her path eventually led her to the University of New Hampshire, where she shifted closer to education. This step marked an important transition in her professional career, as she began focusing more on learning, development, and how to support students and educators. It was here that her interest in education became more central to her career.

“Each step along the way gave me skills that I still use today,” she explained. “Whether it was working with people in hospitality, understanding large organizations, or being part of a university, all of it built toward what I do now.”

Eventually, those experiences came together in her current role at Project Lead The Way. The combination of business, technology, and education gave her a unique perspective that now helps her design educational programs to help students.

Building Hands-On Learning

Project Lead The Way is a national nonprofit organization that develops STEM curriculum for elementary, middle, and high schools across the United States. Its main purpose is to prepare students for future careers by providing them with real-world, hands-on learning experiences. They partner with schools, teachers, and industry professionals. These valuable connections allow the organization to ensure students gain both technical knowledge and practical skills that are relevant in today’s workforce.

At Project Lead The Way, the focus is not just on teaching STEM subjects, but on how students learn them. The organization develops curriculum that is centered around hands on, project based experiences. Instead of only listening to lectures or reading from textbooks, students are actively solving problems, working in teams, and applying what they learn to real situations. This approach helps students better understand concepts while also building skills they can use in future careers.

A key part of this model is making sure teachers are prepared to lead these experiences. Schools do not just receive the curriculum and implement it on their own. Teachers are required to go through professional development training provided by PLTW before they can teach the material. This ensures that classrooms are not only using the curriculum, but using it in a way that is effective and engaging for students.

“We provide very high quality curriculum for teachers to facilitate hands on learning, and along with that comes required professional development,” Snow explained. “We have over 16,000 programs across the country and more than 100,000 trained teachers. That training is essential, because in order to teach our curriculum, you have to understand how to guide students through that kind of learning.”

Another important part of the curriculum is its connection to real careers. The programs are designed with input from industry professionals, educators, and higher education institutions. This helps ensure that what students are learning is not outdated or disconnected from the real world. Therefore, all lessons reflect current skills and knowledge that are actually used in different fields.

PLTW Career and Technical Education

Beyond technical knowledge, the curriculum also focuses on what Snow described as “durable skills.” These include communication, collaboration, problem solving, and ethical reasoning. These skills are important no matter what career a student chooses as they prepare students to think critically and adapt in a world that is constantly changing.

Snow pointed out that STEM is present in almost every career, even ones that might not seem technical at first. Someone working as a cashier may need to troubleshoot digital systems. A cosmetologist might think about how tools are designed and how they could be improved. A baker relies on equipment that was created through engineering and technology. These examples show that STEM skills are not limited to one path, but are useful in many different fields.

In summary, this type of learning is powerful because it gives students opportunities they might not otherwise have. Instead of guessing what a career might be like, they are able to experience it in a classroom setting which helps students make informed decisions about their future.

Challenges in Expanding Hands-On Learning

While Project Lead The Way has built a strong and widely used program, there are still real challenges when it comes to bringing this type of learning into more schools.

One of the biggest barriers is funding. Many school districts are dealing with budget deficits, which makes it difficult to invest in new programs, even when they see the value in them. At the same time, there is also a shortage of teachers, which adds another layer of difficulty when schools are trying to expand or maintain these programs.

CNN photo of protests due to lack of money for education

Another challenge is ensuring that schools have access to high quality curriculum that stays relevant. Many schools struggle to find programs that are both engaging and aligned with real world skills. Snow emphasized that this is something Project Lead the Way works to solve, but it still requires time, training, and long term commitment from schools.

Even with these challenges, schools often recognize the value of the program because of the opportunities it provides to students. These include access to internships, college credit, and career exploration experiences. However, balancing these benefits with limited resources remains one of the biggest ongoing challenges in expanding hands on STEM education.

The Future of Career Pathways

Looking ahead, Snow believes the future of education - and career readiness - depends on stronger connections between classrooms and the real world. At Project Lead The Way, that vision centers on expanding opportunities for students to engage directly with industry.

“I hope that more industrial jobs will get involved in education,” she said. “So students can have community partnerships, internships, or even smaller work-based learning experiences that are relevant to where they live.”

She emphasized that learning should not stop at the classroom door. Students should have opportunities to apply their skills in authentic settings: whether through internships, mentorship, or project-based collaborations with professionals. “Even if it’s not a full internship,” Snow explains, “just having those real-world scenarios makes a huge difference.”

When asked what schools could do right now to better prepare students for real careers, Snow pointed to the importance of access, specifically, access to high-quality, hands-on learning. “It’s about giving students the opportunity to experience hands-on learning,” she said, “but making sure it’s high quality.” That quality, she noted, depends not just on the curriculum itself, but on the support systems around it.

She stressed that teachers need strong professional development and ongoing support to make these experiences meaningful. “There has to be a community of practice,” she said. “Teachers need to be able to learn from each other, share ideas, and continue growing.” Without that, even strong programs can lose their impact over time.

Another key piece, she explained, is how schools think about curriculum. Rather than simply purchasing a static program, schools should look for long-term partnerships. “It shouldn’t be a vendor relationship,” Snow said. “It should be a partner relationship that evolves with the industry and as times goes on.” This kind of dynamic approach ensures that what students are learning stays relevant and engaging, rather than becoming outdated.

That connection to relevance is critical. When students see that what they are learning reflects real careers and current industries, they are more engaged and more invested in their work. It also helps them better understand the range of opportunities available to them after graduation.

The Benefits of the Job

When reflecting on her own career, Snow shared that her proudest moments come from seeing that impact come to life in students.

For example, she describes a statewide showcase in Massachusetts where students from kindergarten through 12th grade present their work. “Every time I go, I cry,” she admitted. “You see students so proud of what they’ve created, confidently talking to industry professionals about their work.”

PLTW In-School Showcase

What stands out most in those moments is not just the quality of the projects, but the confidence students build along the way.

“They’re not just presenting to their classmates,” she said. “They’re explaining their thinking, their process, their ideas to real professionals, and they’re doing an incredible job.”

She also described the sense of community that forms in those spaces. Students support one another, celebrate each other’s work, and take pride in what they have accomplished.

“Seeing students from different schools high-five each other and be proud: that’s what makes it so powerful,” she said.

For Snow, those experiences represent the full impact of hands-on, career-connected learning. They capture not just a single project, but months of effort, growth, and discovery. “That moment reflects a whole year of work,” she said. “And it’s something students will never forget.”

It is those moments, she added, that continue to drive her work. “It gives me more fuel to keep doing what I’m doing,” she said. “Because you can see exactly why it matters.”

Looking Ahead

Snow's advice for future high school students interested in STEM or creating change in education is centered on exploration and hands-on experience. She recommends that students should take advantage of as many applied learning and STEM courses a possible early on, rather than waiting until they feel fully confident. These classes are designed to build practical skills, meaning that even if a particular subject doesn’t become a long-term passion, the experience gained can still be valuable and transferable to other fields.

Overall, these essential experiences not only build confidence, but also provide a foundation of adaptable skills that can support success in any future career.