02-04-2025
Remarkable Woman Annalies Corbin: Transforming education
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Dr. Annalies Corbin is a visionary leader transforming education by connecting classrooms with scientific research and industry.
Through initiatives like the PAST Innovation Lab and her Learning Unboxed podcast, she has impacted millions of students and educators championing hands-on, equitable learning. A nationally recognized speaker and author, Corbin is reshaping K -12 education to better prepare future generations for real-world success.
'The PAST Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help kids, in particular, find their passions in life that they can then turn into careers,' said Corbin. 'Particularly, our hope is into STEM careers.'
Science, technology, engineering and math — students find STEM at the PAST Innovation Lab, and they make it work. The lab has 3D printers, small and very large.
'Our goal is hands-on, hands-on, hands-on,' said Corbin. 'So we know that not only can you not do what you don't know, you can't be what you can't see, all of those pieces roll together.'
PAST partners with local school districts and high school students to earn class credit. The programs start at kindergarten and go through college with summer, after school, and holiday break opportunities.
'Kids fly drones, kids learn how to be artists, to put murals up on buildings, kids learn how to potentially go into health care fields, just literally everything,' said Corbin.
All of this is the brainchild of Corbin, who admits she was a restless learner.
'I was a kid that tried all the majors,' said Corbin. 'My parents gave me all kinds of grief about it. But the reality of it is I love to learn. And so the idea of just being stuck in one thing didn't really appeal to me. And so I tried lots of stuff. And what that taught me is that there's just so much potential out there.'
Teachers from around the country are trained by PAST to use hands-on learning to help students find their own passion. When they do, attendance and grades go up. PAST teams with industries and employers, many of which provide financial support.
'We get funding from corporations, we get funding from individuals, we have families that support and provide funding for other kids to attend camps,' said Corbin. 'We get state funding, we have federal funding, lots of grants. We write an awful lot of grants around here.'
Twenty-five years in, Corbin has written detailed books about her teaching methods, which have been used by 22,000 teachers and nearly three million students.
'If we can help influence the way the systems and the structures of modern education are going to work moving forward, then we will have been successful to benefit those kids,' said Corbin. 'I know we're changing lives. [I am] so incredibly proud of all the work that everybody over the last 25 years has done to make this endeavor possible and for it to thrive.'
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