For Luis Miranda, sipping coffee from his Lego mug in front of his boss two years ago led to a new career. The recently hired Denver Broncos video editor soon taught himself 3-D animation and began creating Lego-like animations of team highlights each week during the season.
Miranda was one of several Broncos employees who shared a different side of working for the NFL team — the science, technology, engineering and math side — with students Thursday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
Pre-engineering students from Montrose High School may not have met any football players, but they left with a better understanding of how to put STEM degrees to work at places such as Sports Authority Field — from building and maintaining the turf to working in the ThunderVision Control Room.
Employees in the control room develop digital content, control audio and manage all the displays in the stadium, including those skinny “ribbon” displays.
“Anytime a student can get out of the classroom and connect with someone that’s in the field or something close to that field, all of a sudden it gives more meaning to something we’re doing in class,” said Brian Simpson, the school’s engineering teacher. He was named “Coach of the Month” in February for the Broncos Tackle STEM program, which is supported by Arrow Electronics and the Colorado Technology Association.
“Anytime that connection can happen, it better prepares the student if they see ‘This is where I’m using my math skills, my science skills,’ ” Simpson said. “Now that’s a connection, and those connections last a long time.”
Take Miranda, for example, a motion designer for the Broncos. He shared that he eventually moved to the Unreal game engine so he could do his animations faster.
“They hired me primarily to be more of an editor, but I just really enjoyed doing that,” he said. “I’ve almost forced them to let me do more 3-D stuff because I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m learning this anyway. Either I do it here or do it on my own.’ And they’re like, ‘OK, go for it.’ ”
The tour helped Kaileigh Lyons, 17, expand her outlook on STEM careers. She is less interested in engineering and prefers design and photography.
“I was talking to the design guy (Miranda), and he said he started off with film and he can now animate,” Lyons said. “He is just like self-taught on animation, and I think that’s cool.”
The Broncos Tackle STEM program started last season. It has become a priority for the team because, like any business, it needs more employees with STEM backgrounds today then yesterday.
“And it will be more tomorrow than today,” said Brady Kellogg, the Broncos’ vice president of corporate partnerships.
“They (Montrose students) drove 5½ hours each way from Montrose High School. That shows you how exciting our product can be on a day when there is no football occurring,” Kellogg said. “… It’s also a topic that’s important to all of our corporate partners who are concerned about filling those next-generation STEM jobs.”
STEM backgrounds are all over the Broncos’ staff beyond actual tech workers, he added.
“One of the interesting aspects of STEM too is it’s a chance for us to celebrate the untold stories of our organization. Rick Dennison, our offensive coordinator, has a master’s in civil engineering. We had a cheerleader last year who was a biological and chemical engineer. We have a long snapper (Casey Kreiter) this year who was teaching high school science as recently as a month ago when he got the call to try out for the Broncos,” Kellogg said. “I have a degree in human biology.”
Another reason the Broncos push STEM is because the team needs that advantage to compete and keep fans and sponsors happy. The Broncos have delved into virtual reality, private social networks and mobile apps. They also teamed up with Google’s Nest technology to put cameras in 15 bars nationwide that are known as gathering places for Broncos fans. That lets the team share highlights social media.
“You’ve got plenty of kids out there going to bed and dreaming of being the next quarterback of the Broncos,” Kellogg said. “If we could have one of these kids thinking, ‘I want to grow up and be responsible for the turf of this stadium.’ Or you may know that I don’t have a body that’s conducive to playing football, but I’m going to run the scoreboard of the Broncos stadium. It doesn’t have to be an either-or, too. If you’re talented, be that NFL football player, but recognize that you may have a passion for teaching science. Another player, Ben Hamilton, now teaches high school math. STEM is in everything. We’re no different in that regard. We just may have a bigger platform and some cool assets to help further some excitement.”
