North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce’s WindWinRI program sponsors two teams of 50 high school and college students statewide to participate in Skills for RI’s Future annual PrepareRI COVID-19 Innovation Virtual Challenge during American Wind Week
North Kingstown, RI- The North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce’s WindWinRI program, through their Real Jobs RI grant, has partnered with Skills for RI’s Future and Prepare RI as a sponsor of two intern teams totaling 50 high school and college students statewide.
Due to COVID-19, the internship program pivoted from an onsite internship to an online PrepareRI COVID-19 challenge. The COVID-19 challenge comprises 500 interns working at 20 corporations with each team working with an employer sponsor.
WindWinRI is sponsoring two teams of interns whose challenge is to learn about the fast-emerging offshore wind industry from industry experts and research the job opportunities and trainings programs- Including the WindWinRI Offshore Wind High School Certification (the first of its kind the United States)- to then create and build a business and marketing plan. The teams have created mock corporations, including branding themselves as AtlanticWindsRI and WindRIders.
“WindWinRI is proud to participate in the Prepare RI internship program as it’s a natural extension of our work in building a talent pipeline in the offshore wind industry. The products that the interns are producing are outstanding and enhance our program”. – said Kristin Urbach, Executive Director of the NK Chamber
In its fourth year, the American Wind Energy Association’s American Wind Week, WindWinRI is celebrating the ways “Wind Builds the Future” by providing a virtual internship model that each corporation of interns has adopted. On August 12th from 11 am to 1:30 pm the AtlanticWindsRI corporation will be providing a virtual offshore wind energy summit. This is one of their solutions to the WindWinRI Challenge. Prior to the summit, the AtlanticWindsRI students have created a YouTube “crash course” that consists of short educational videos outlining the careers and opportunities in offshore wind. The Wind RIders intern corporation has created a web site and a strong social media presence. Both teams will be competing and the 18 additional corporations in partnership with other industry sponsors to present their solution to a panel of judges next week. The leading corporations will have a chance to win scholarships of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000 for first, second, and third places, respectively.
“In the time of economic uncertainty, wind power is bringing jobs, new revenue, and opportunity to communities across the country. Wind energy is one of the few industries creating new manufacturing jobs and delivering sustained economic benefits to rural communities. And offshore wind energy offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity we need to take to help spur the economy”. – AWEA
For more information at the Atlantic WindsRI Summit and to register, please visit www.atlanticwindsri.com. For information about WindWinRI, visit www.windwinri.com.
The North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce is one of Rhode Island’s leading business membership and trade organizations located in North Kingstown, RI that includes the Quonset Business Park that employs more than 10,000 people within over 200 businesses. Quonset, the home to Port Davisville, has served as the staging, storage, and assembly area for wind turbine equipment.