Funding Awarded: $202,500

INDUSTRY PARTNERS:

BH Electronics, Outland Renewable Energy, SMI & Hydraulics, Xcel

Key Partners:

SW MN FIRST Collaborative, SW MN Private Industry Council, Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, Central MN Jobs & Training Services, Central MN Workforce Investment Board,  iSEEK,  Marshall High School, MN Energy Consortium, MN State Colleges and University, MN West Community & Technical College, Department of Employment and Economic Development, South Central Workforce Council, SE Workforce Council, SW MN Workforce Council, Workforce Development, Inc., Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative

Project Summary:

Across Minnesota, the Career Awareness for Renewable Energy (CARE) outreach project uses online tools such as websites and an electronic magazine to stimulate interest in renewable energy careers. Other outreach activities include career fairs, student competitions, and tuition reimbursement for renewable energy training. 

Project Outcomes:

  • 20 high school instructors participated in welding seminar;120 students (23 high school                teams) participating in welding competition

  • 32 students competed in Wind Energy, Solar Sprint Car, Cell Phone Showdown at the Technical       Skills Challenge

  • 15 robotics program participants in 2009; 20 registered for 2010 competition

  • 1,800 Career Expo attendees

  • Wind Energy Career Ladder Brochure developed; 10,000 printed/distributed

  • ISEEK Energy Website developed

  • 55 students in Renewable Energy received tuition assistance

Project Description:

The CARE outreach project used four different experiences to engage students in learning about renewable energy careers.

Career Expo

"We had hundreds of industry partners for our Career Expo event," said Tom Hoff, Career & Technical Project Coordinator at Southwest/ West Central Service Cooperative. "The businesses provided interactive renewable energy experiences to students."

Tech Challenge Competitions

Wind turbines, solar powered cars, welding, and constructing robots that play soccer are some of the hands-on experiences that high school students across southwestern Minnesota took advantage of through this project.

A mentor to the Tigerbot Robotics team in Marshall, John DeCramer, from BH Electronics said that a rewarding part of the program is that "students get to work with engineers or programmers or business people" and they get exposed to science and engineering careers.

Career Pathways Development

A Wind Energy Career Pathways Brochure was developed as part of this project. This brochure was so popular, a second printing of 5,000 had to be ordered after three months. It outlines educational requirements for four major categories of jobs in Wind Energy: Manufacturing, Installation, General Operations & Maintenance, and Research & Development. It also provides expected salary ranges for the jobs.

Key developer of the pathway, Cathy Baumgartner, Workforce Development Advisor at Central Minnesota Jobs and Training Services, related a story about the impact of this kind of information, "I got feedback from one woman who took it home and shared it with her high school student son. She said ‘I showed him the brochure and that helped him make up his mind that he was going to go into a wind-related business."

iSeek Website Development

The Energy Channel on the iSeek website features an electronic version of the Wind Energy Career Pathway brochure as well as other information for technical careers in many alternative energy careers including solar electric, solar heating, wind energy, biofuels, and more.

Energy Jobs, Energy Education, and Employment Information are the three major sections of content. One popular feature is "Day in the Life" video clips that interview industry professionals about different aspects of their careers.