Energy secretary tours NWTC, encouraging students to explore careers in the booming field

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U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette (pictured right) rides in a bucket truck during a visit to NWTC in Green Bay for the college’s Utility Preview Day.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette spends Tuesday in Green Bay talking jobs with the future workforce and encouraging students to look for more careers in the growing energy industry.

“It really took me home to a place where I grew up, learning the trade of energy, learning the business of energy,” he says.

Secretary Brouillette says he feels right at home as he tours NWTC’s energy programs during the college’s Utility Preview Day.

“I started in one of these programs as a young kid right out of high school,” says Brouillette.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette visits solar energy students at ⁦@NWTC⁩ in Green Bay #wbay pic.twitter.com/naDGm6IhKQ

— Sarah Thomsen (@SThomsenWbay) October 6, 2020

It shaped his career , and he’s hoping to see the same thing happen with these students, adding “Trade schools in America are key to this business.”

During the event, current NWTC students worked one-on-one with high schoolers to give them a taste of what they could be doing.

They’re answering questions and showing high schoolers what they learn in solar, gas utility and electrical power distribution classes.

It’s all about where careers in the energy field can take them.

⁦@SecBrouillette⁩ meets with current and prospective students in ⁦@NWTC⁩ electrical distribution program #wbay pic.twitter.com/thPgbpyjQY

— Sarah Thomsen (@SThomsenWbay) October 6, 2020

“It’s a great career to be in. There’s plenty of jobs out there, good pay and it just seems like something I’d like to do,” says Luxemburg-Casco senior Luke Shefchik, who is attending the Utility Preview Day.

“Once you complete it, you can work anywhere in the world. You’ll have the basic knowledge to really go to any company at any level they’re doing and just fit right in,” says Dan Carlson, solar lab assistant at NWTC.

After Carlson retired from the Marine Corps, he turned to a career in solar energy.

It took him to Puerto Rico to help rebuild a fragile grid there, and now he’s back at the college, helping encourage students to see the potential while working in this booming industry.

“It’s really in high demand. It’s really growing and exploding,” says Nathaniel Huebner, solar energy technology program student.

“Energy makes up roughly eight percent of our gross domestic product here in America, but importantly, it makes up the first eight percent, because every other business depends upon it,” says Secretary Brouillette, “so these guys have a very bright future when they leave this school.”

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