Raising aspirations in Tees Valley with The Talent Foundry
Sofia team runs 'supergrid' workshops at Teesworks Skills Academy as part of the Powering Potential programme for 30 local 16 to 18 year olds
Programme to highlight career pathways for underrepresented young people
Through hands-on wind turbine workshops, the Sofia education team has been part of Powering Potential, a four part mentoring programme run by independent charity The Talent Foundry in the Tees Valley.
The programme is supported by Dell Technologies and brings together local young people and Tees Valley businesses - such as RWE's Sofia - to increase awareness of valuable opportunities available in the local area and highlight career pathways for 16 to 18 year olds who may not be afforded the opportunities of others.
The Sofia workshops involved small teams working together to build wind turbines and compete against each other in terms of the quantity and cost of energy produced.
A total of 30 young people from four secondary schools and colleges attended the sessions held at Teesworks Skills Academy, a facility which is set to play a key role in the transformation of Europe's largest brownfield site into a world-class industrial zone.
The Talent Foundry runs programmes that focus on levelling the playing field of opportunity for underserved young people, linking them to meaningful employment opportunities and delivering workshops and mentoring initiatives aimed at developing the core skills that will be crucial in the world of work.
By taking part, Sofia aimed to increase the awareness of offshore wind opportunities in the region and also hopefully spark the imagination of the young people involved who may not have previously considered offshore wind as a career option.
It also gave the project a chance to be a part of showing students that there is a bright future for them in the area, and that there are plenty of ways to match their skills and attributes to renewable energy: one of the fastest growing sectors in Tees Valley.
To build on the success of this first series, The Talent Foundry is looking to potentially run Powering Potential in Tees Valley again in 2024.
March 2023
