Green Jobs Academy
Green Jobs Academy
Green Jobs Academy of Rowan University
Green Jobs Academy of Rowan University is a collaborative hub and accelerator program that works with industry, workforce development, and community college partners, including Rowan College of South Jersey, to develop stackable training, educational, and experiential learning offerings. Its goal is to prepare students, workers, and professionals for in-demand jobs in clean energy and other green economy sectors.
Green Jobs Academy creates and supports innovative flexible pathways for earning industry credentials, professional and academic certificates, and associate's, bachelor's, and graduate-level degrees. The Academy's focus is on catalyzing equitable economic growth, advancing solutions for a sustainable planet, and building a diverse green workforce - with access and opportunities for underserved populations.
Currently funded by a $1M TD Bank Ready Challenge Grant, the Green Jobs Academy has supported programming in offshore wind, solar, community and student awareness, internships, multi-disciplinary initiatives, and industry and energy sector networking.
To work with the Green Jobs Academy, or for more information, please contact Green Jobs Academy Coordinator Marie Casanova casanovam@rowan.edu.
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High School Students in a Wind & Solar Workshop -
High School Students in a Plant Energy Workshop -
High School Students Assembling a Wind Turbine -
High School Students Measuring Energy from Plants -
High School Students in Wind & Solar Workshop
Alternative Energy Symposium
In May 2024, Green Jobs Academy hosted its first annual Alternative Energy Symposium. A partnership between Green Jobs Academy, Rowan University's College of Engineering, and Rowan University's School of Earth & Environment, the Symposium was developed with the following goals in mind:
- Target specific audiences throughout South Jersey, in this case high school aged students, who are directly focused in the STEM disciplines. This was achieved by invited students involved in the STEM/STEAM Academies from neighboring school districts.
- Educate these students on the relevance of alternative energy as the future so they are aware of future career prospects in the region, as well as the concept of "greening" their degrees or careers. So that regardless of their career path, they can consider options like Sustainability, GIS, or Climate as an add-on. This is achieved through speakers from the green energy industry and from Rowan.
- Students who are already interested in Engineering as a career path may be redirected to Engineering majors and careers with an Alternative Energy focus. This is achieved through hands-on workshops.
- Fun! The hands-on workshops should be engaging, interesting, interactive, and challenging to keep students thinking.
Several speakers presented to the students including:
- Enel North America - Chad Lobley, Senior Development Manager (Solar)
- Atlantic Shores - Roberto Polanco, Lead Electrical Engineer Onshore Substation (Offshore Wind)
- South Jersey Industries - Alexa Watkins, Strategy and Business Development Lead (Natural Gas & Hydrogen)
Three hands-on workshops were offered to the students of which they could select two. These were:
- GIS Planning - Using maps to plan where an alternative energy site can be located, and how to understand the constraints around where to place a site.
- Wind & Solar - While in small groups, students built small-scale wind turbines connected to a battery and two solar panels so they could understand how when the turbine spins (or the sun shines), the energy meter increases.
- Plant Energy - Students used voltimeters to measure how much potential energy was stored in the leaves of different plants. Then they connected multiple leaves of plants together with wires to see if the charge increased.
To see the full report of the event including assessment data click here.
Our next Alternative Energy Symposium will be May 30th, 2025! If you would like to be a part of the event, email Jennifer Totora at totoraj@rowan.edu.