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The Institute Hosts First-Ever
GREEN JOB SHADOW DAY
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On February 2, The Stone Soup Leadership Institute hosted the first-ever online Green Job Shadow Day. The live LinkedIn event drew sustainability practitioners from around the world including the British Virgin Islands, Guatemala, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and U.S. locations from Boston, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Hawaii and California. The purpose of the event is “to connect sustainability practitioners as virtual mentors for young people no matter where they live,” said Nina Potsiadlo, The Institute’s Education Projects Coordinator. | |
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The Green Job Shadow Day launches The Institute’s Sustainable Career Mentor Initiative, a disruptive model designed to fast-track the workforce development pipeline needed to fill the more than 10 million new jobs that are anticipated in the emerging transition to a sustainable economy.
“The transition to a sustainable economy is the most challenging issue of the 21st century. To meet this challenge, we are launching the Sustainable Career Mentor Initiative,” says Marianne Larned, Founding Director of the Stone Soup Leadership Institute. “This initiative seeks to connect young people who are interested in careers in sustainability with experienced professionals who can help guide them along the way.”
The Green Job Shadow Day builds on nearly three decades of experience hosting Job Shadow Days. In 1994 the Institute developed the very first Job Shadow Day in partnership with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. Over the years, this one-day event has grown and been adopted by national organizations as well as the U.S. Department of Labor. It is a signature program of The Institute’s Leadership Initiative, with communities in Martha’s Vineyard, Boston, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
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The Institute's Job Shadow Day: 2010-2019
For Green Job Shadow Day, youth delegates from The Institute’s year-long youth leadership program joined from Bristol County Agricultural High School in Massachusetts. Diana Hopkins, BCAHS biology teacher said “These students care about their future, they care about their community, and they care about the world.”
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Guest speaker and sustainability practitioner, Vincent Kimura, founder of Smart Yields inspired students with his passion for sustainable agriculture and how he is revolutionizing the way small and medium-scale farms operate. He encouraged them to “reach out to other sustainability practitioners to gain hands-on, real-world experience as they explore best practices for sustainable agriculture.” Vincent is featured in the book, Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: Life-Changing Stories of Young Heroes.
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The Institute’s Sustainability Coordinator Trevor Tanaka shared his pathway from a high-school student who spearheaded a successful call for legislation to require climate education in all of Hawaii’s schools to his current position. “It was really important for me to have mentors to help me turn my ideas into action plans and to instill the belief in me that I was a disruptor who was needed to build a better future,” Tanaka said who is also featured in the book, Stone Soup for a Sustainable World.
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“Congrats on a great program. In the U.S. we're seeing a lot of fantastic opportunities in the offshore wind industry to show what renewable energy can do for local communities, the supply chain, and the workforce,” said Hannah Webb, Lead Renewables Consultant with the Xodus Group, a rapidly growing renewable energy consulting firm with teams in the UK, Japan, the Middle East, and Australia.
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“The main challenge we have in Nigeria is single-use plastics. I'm working on how to build sustainability into processing, so we avoid having to deal with the waste. We are trying to solve a problem that has been created, but if we can avoid the problem altogether, that is better. I’m impressed that there are young people on this call and that they are learning early,” said Omolala Oluwadara, a biotech/chemical engineer and sustainability enthusiast.
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At our next event the Institute will premiere the Sustainable Career Pathways Video Series, featuring sustainability practitioners in Marine Biology, Wastewater Management, Offshore Wind, and Environmental Education.
Sustainability practitioners who want to help mentor young people, join this effort contact: Nina Potsialdo nina@stonesoupleadership.org
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The Stone Soup Leadership Institute is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in 1997. Our mission is to develop dynamic educational tools, trainings and initiatives to empower young people to build a more just, equitable and sustainable world. | | | | |
