National Grid Brings Hands-On Career Exploration to NSBE Summer Camp
“Are we stoking some interest in the utility world?”Some of the 60 SCSD students in the crowd nodded enthusiastically.
As part of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Summer Camp at Syracuse University, National Grid employees led activities to help students get a sense for what the utility workers do and how they put their STEM knowledge to use daily.
Overhead and underground crews brought their trucks and equipment and talked about their day-to-day responsibilities, as well as safety procedures and precautions they take to keep their work environments safe.
Students volunteered to learn how to crimp a wire to fix a power outage, clean up a worksite and more. One student modeled a hard hat, safety vest, and safety glasses while an employee noted, “if your boss sees you without these, you’ll get yelled at!”
The staff demonstrated truck equipment including the crane, stabilizers and more. They also demonstrated how they fuse pipes together during repairs, and more.
“We’ve got a future utility worker here,” a National Grid employee exclaimed, after a student noted what stabilizers are used for.
“This is my favorite part of camp so far,” Roberts 8th grader Ramel Davis said. “I’m interested in joining the Air National Guard, but it’s cool to learn all the things they do at National Grid.”
“That truck is for underground work, and that one is for repairing electrical wires,” Clary 7th grader Alexis Hardee explained as she pointed to trucks parked nearby. “It’s interesting to learn how they’re both so helpful to our city, when our power goes out and stuff like that. I might want to do this kind of work in the future… we’ll see!”
For the last two years, National Grid has provided a grant to sponsor SCSD students attending the NSBE Summer Camp. #SCSDGivesThanks for their support and all they are doing to help our students become #SCSDCareerReady!
