SCC expands tech career outreach

SCC expands tech career outreach
By Tony Burchyns/Times-Herald, Vallejo
Posted: 05/09/2009

Local high school students could be blown away by well-paying jobs in the wind industry.

That's the idea behind Solano Community College's latest expansion into the realm of career exploration in local public middle and high schools, officials said.

College leaders this week approved an outreach program to help high school teachers get students to see the relevance of what they're studying to possible careers in advanced manufacturing - including jobs as wind turbine technicians.

"We're trying to raise awareness at a young age, so students are prepared and stay focused in high school," said Bob Johnson, dean of career technical education at Solano Community College, who is overseeing the outreach program. "I would like to target (would-be) high school dropouts in Solano County."

Designed to align with California Department of Education standards, the program will provide teachers with support, materials and other resources to help raise awareness of career-training opportunities at the two-year college. It also builds off of similar outreach efforts to middle schools rolled out this school year, said Mike Wilson, a principal at Rockridge Partners, Inc., the firm hired to manage the programs.

"We want to create a workforce supply chain," Wilson said, referring to efforts by community colleges to gear training programs toward emerging job markets. "We're trying to develop the far end of that chain, so students in middle and high schools can look inward to ask what they can do, what they want to do, when they grow up."

Industry technician jobs may be one possibility for students - and increasingly those opportunities may be found in clean energy, officials said.

Solano County's high number of wind farms, Johnson said, has prompted the college to add wind-technician training courses starting in the fall.

"Certainly, wind technicians are in high demand today," said Steve Stengel, spokesman for NextEra Energy, which is Northern California's largest owner and operator of wind power. The company operates a 90-turbine, 162-megawatt facility on Birds Landing Road in unincorporated Solano County.

"We plan to add 1,000 megawatts to our (wind power) portfolio across the country, and we will need dozens of technicians to support those facilities."

And that's not to mention the construction workforce that will build those facilities, Stengel added.

What skills should high school students have to succeed in the wind industry?

"If you like working with your hands and you like fixing things and can learn computers, that's the perfect foundation," Wilson suggested. There's one more thing, he said: "You can't be afraid of heights." Many turbines are nearly 200 feet tall.

The college's expanded program will consist of a number of teacher workshops next school year, Wilson said. So far, this year, 32 middle school teachers from almost every Solano County school district, including two from Vallejo and Benicia, have participated in the program.

"I hope this can be a tool for our teachers," Vallejo City Unified School District Superintendent Mary Bull said. "It fits right in with the district's vision of expanding career-tech pathways. You have to get kids exposed to exploring those professions ... it connects their learning with the real world, which is very motivating to kids."