Fueling the future: The rise of wind tech careers

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Driving through the rural landscape of South Texas, wind turbines dot the topography like stoic guardians of the open expanses. Perhaps there is no more powerful metaphor for progress — and for the future — than these majestic structures.

Beto Gonzalez, the superintendent of Webb Consolidated Independent School District, calls the turbines “towers of hope.” Beginning this fall, Webb CISD will roll out a program — the first in the country at the high-school level — that teaches kids the hands-on skills they’ll need to become wind turbine technicians in the green economy.

It was a natural fit, explains Gonzalez, that just as AT&T was investing in a wind energy center in South Texas, the school district would hone in on efforts to prepare kids for jobs in the renewable energy sector. “We [wanted] to create a college-level curriculum for our high schoolers to give them hope for gainful employment in purposeful, technical careers,” says Gonzalez. Read more...