Central New York High School students visited a National Grid plant Thursday to get a look at careers that could come from a STEM education. It was part of a week-long Onondaga Community College science workshop.
The summer STEM program offered by O-C-C encourages kids to pursue a tech career by developing their science, technology, engineering, and math skills. National Grid Manager and Instructor Wally Dengos says that the biggest goal is to have kids “learn how to learn”.
“We’re going out into the community and trying to help those kids identify with what they’re interested in and try and get them involved. Show them some things they might not otherwise see and try and spark them, try and spark them into something that they would be interested in as a future career really.”
Although overseas “guest” workers fill around two thirds of new I-T jobs in America, Dengos says that for National Grid, the demand is high.
STUDENTS GET A HEAD START ON SCIENCE CAREERS
This hope is shared by many of the students who look forward to a possible scientific career. Tenth grader Chris Dotto says programs like this have already given him some relatable experience.
“We’re learning about different companies and what they do. At SRC there’s people learning a program called ‘inventor’ on the computer, which is like a design program which I’ve already been familiar with and used it. So it would be cool to use it in the future.”
In addition to National Grid, the student group has already visited S-R-C and Lockheed-Martin, among other local tech companies.
