The course came on the heels of REAP’s home energy efficiency course at KCA in the fall, which garnered 33 students mini-grants for weatherization materials and earned 23 of those students a college credit. Powering Your Future was an opportunity to build on existing classroom rapport and expand students’ energy literacy to an awareness of jobs, fields and career pathways that support energy security and resilience throughout Alaska. The course shined a light on much-needed positions, like electricians, weatherization professionals, and engineers, as well as the different training and work pathways to those positions. And, crucially, ANEEE embedded transferable career readiness and personal development skills into the course, making it useful for all students and interests.
The Alaska Network for Energy Education and Employment leads energy career exploration partnership for high schoolers
This spring, REAP’s Alaska Network for Energy Education and Employment developed and taught a new energy career visibility and readiness course for a cohort of 11th graders from the Lower Yukon School District. The Powering Your Future course built on a yearslong partnership with Kusilvak Career Academy, LYSD’s innovative career and technical education high school in Anchorage. Their students’ impressive engagement, coupled with their prior energy-focused coursework, led to an impactful quarter of career exploration into in-demand sectors of Alaska’s energy industry.
KCA student Faith Tucker wires a light switch at the Alaska Joint Apprenticeship & Training Trust during the Powering Your Future course. (Photo by Jenny Starrs/REAP)
UAA Mechanical Engineering Professor Getu Hailu demonstrates the equipment in the Jan Van den Top HVAC Lab to visiting KCA students. (Photo by Chris McConnell/REAP)
The 17 juniors who participated in the Powering Your Future course hailed from six different villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Over the 8-week quarter, they attended Powering Your Future classes three days a week for one hour at a time—all while juggling daily academic coursework, hands-on vocational education at King Tech High School, and the startlingly new experience of city living at KCA’s campus at a renovated motel in Spenard. Alongside the core group of juniors, 11 graduation-ready seniors attended key Powering Your Future classes and field trips as part of their Senior Capstone course, which focused on career skills and planning for their path after graduation.
The course’s instructional time was split between REAP and Alaska Resource Education, a resource education nonprofit. The two organizations co-taught the first week, which focused on introductory content, personality type exploration, and conference networking. Then, the educators split up the following weeks by energy topics, with each week led by the organization with subject matter expertise. REAP led energy efficiency, electricity, and renewable energy weeks, while ARE led mining and oil & gas weeks. Each week stuck to the same consistent structure, with lessons on Monday, guest speakers on Wednesdays, and field trips on Fridays. Then, for the final two weeks of the course, the organizations teamed back up to help students prepare for a career speed networking day, hosted at KCA.
The course incorporated hands-on activities, immersive technology, and a broad swath of REAP member organizations and industry partners. Rural Alaska Community Action Program’s Jacquie Braden and Shelby Clem, Alaska Village Electric Cooperative’s Bill Stamm, Alaska Native Tribal Health Corporation’s Katya Karankevich, and Calista Corporation’s Regina Therchik each delivered informative guest presentations onsite at KCA and fielded questions about their industries, their personal career paths, and more. The Anchorage Museum’s Seed Lab, the Alaska Joint Electrical Apprenticeship & Training Trust, and the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Engineering Department hosted engaging field trips so students could experience energy careers and projects up close and personal. AJEATT even set up a scenario where KCA students became “apprentices” to “journeyworkers”—who were really AJEATT’s own first-year apprentices—and learned to wire their own light switches. And in the final week, partners came together for an informational career speed networking day. Similar to speed dating, groups of 2–3 students rotated between professionals and asked questions about their job, organization, and advice for students.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Powering Your Future class was the growth in students’ confidence throughout the quarter. Class time spent preparing questions for guest speakers and practicing their conversations with professionals led to meaningful dialogue during Q&A and networking sessions. And on the final day of class, during a thank-you note writing activity, one student even went above and beyond to write not one but two thank-yous to industry partners who participated in the class, because they couldn’t pick their favorite experience.
In the final Powering Your Future course survey, all 17 students agreed that energy careers are important in their communities. Half of them said that they wanted to pursue an energy career after high school, most commonly in construction or electricity. “Talking about how homes could save energy based on their different sizes and how much technology is being used in the home,” was Scammon Bay junior Akia Akerelrea’s favorite part of the course, while Mountain Village junior Donnie Hess’s was “the guest speakers taking their time to come over here to Kusilvak Career Academy.”
The team of passionate educators and administrators at KCA made the course possible through their support, participation, and communication. The spring quarter marked REAP’s final collaboration with KCA science teacher Mary Cook, who retires at the end of the 2024 summer session at KCA after a remarkable teaching career in Alaska. Cook’s empathy, humor, and dedication to her students will continue to inspire the REAP team in our future education and workforce development partnerships at KCA and beyond.
AVEC President and CEO Bill Stamm discusses the work and role of the electric cooperative with KCA students. (Photo by Jenny Starrs/REAP)
Calista’s Senior Workforce & Shareholder Development Specialist Regina Therchik talks to KCA students during their speed networking activity. (Photo by Taylor Burgh/ARE)
Curious about implementing clean energy career visibility content for your students, school, or district? Check out the Powering Your Future sample syllabus or get in touch with ANEEE.