In many communities throughout the United States, families – especially school children – are curious about what wind technicians do on the job every day. I am the wind plant supervisor at Cayuga Ridge, and here in Illinois we recently had an opportunity to meet with the community and explain how wind power works and the variety of jobs available.
It was all part of Family Science Day hosted by Illinois State University. This is an annual event that educates and inspires pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Each year, dozens of companies and institutions, including NASA, come together to offer hands-on learning opportunities for kids.
I learned about this event through my wife, who works in the university’s chemistry department, and this is the second year that our team has participated. Iberdrola Renewables was the only wind power owner/operator exhibiting at the event, so there was a lot of interest in what we do.
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Since this event was focused on inspiring young students, we brought reinforcements to assist us as we demonstrated our wind technician safety gear. Wind technician Chris Tolian brought his seventh-grade twins to assist us at the display table. They were a great help in talking with other kids who stopped by the booth.
During the course of the event, we interacted with more than 100 people from the community, and more than 1,200 people were in attendance at the event overall. Many wanted to know more about our job and had questions based on what they have seen portrayed in U.S. media. The local fire department’s rescue team also stopped by to learn more about our safety procedures.
We really enjoyed the interaction with the little ones and explaining what we do. It was also good to see the local community getting involved and taking an interest in green energy.
