EAST GRAND FORKS – More than 1,100 middle school students across the Greater Grand Forks region explored career paths with local industry professionals at the Youth T4 Summit this week.
The Youth T4 Summit was held Thursday and Friday at Northland Community and Technical College for the second year in a row. At the summit, students participated in five sessions intended to showcase careers in different local industries. Shawn Brink, a state energy education coordinator, said the purpose of the summit is to show students that there are high paying jobs in the region.
“My goal is to keep North Dakota and Minnesota kids in our state, and show you careers that are out there,” Brink said during his opening remarks at the summit. “We want to show you that there are high paying jobs, so you can stay in your communities, raise your families and be productive citizens.”
The T4 Summit – which stands for tools, trades, torque and technology – started in Watford City, North Dakota, in 2019, with just a handful of local businesses. Since 2019, it has steadily grown and expanded, now hosting summits in eight cities across North Dakota and Minnesota: Bowman, Bottineau, Devil’s Lake, Stanley, Bismarck, New Town, Watford City and East Grand Forks.
Throughout the day, students went to five 35-minute learning sessions. Each session covered a job in one of five different industries: healthcare, construction, energy, agriculture and miscellaneous. Organizers ensured each student attended a session exploring each industry, but students could not choose which sessions they attended.
“This is career exploration. We want you to experience things you haven’t even thought about,” Brink said, during his opening remarks at the summit. “What I ask of you is to keep an open mind. When you go into these sessions, you’re going to be surprised by the things that you like that you didn’t think you would ever care for. So keep an open mind and have fun.”
Eric Ripley, the Grand Forks Public Schools executive director of career and technical education, spoke during the opening session of the summit about the importance of exposing students to as many career paths as possible. He referenced a “pyramid of career development” where younger students should be encouraged to explore as many careers as possible, and as they learn and grow, narrow their career options down.
“What we’re trying to do is to get that pyramid from a wide base and start narrowing our way up the field,” he said. “With the idea that when you get to high school, you can start picking and choosing courses that line up specifically with what you think you might want to do.”
Brink said the T4 Summit is different from a traditional career fair because of its emphasis on hands-on experiences and intentional communication between students and industry professionals.
“It’s popular with industry and schools both because it bridges that communication gap that kids have when they go to a traditional career fair and they don’t know how to strike up a conversation with somebody at a booth,” he said. “Anything that exposes kids to careers is terrific, but … (a traditional career fair) is not very productive for kids.”
The summit hit its student capacity in East Grand Forks and in multiple other cities. Brink said the focus is now on getting more local businesses involved.
“We need more businesses of all kinds to get involved,” he said. “We will help train the trainer. If they’re not sure what they can do, my team will come in and work with them and come up with an idea that they can use for an activity related to their field. … They understand kids, and they can help put together something with those businesses that will work.”
The two-day summit hosted a different group of students each day. On Thursday, students from East Grand Forks Central Middle School, Grand Forks South Middle School, Dakota Prairie School, Minto Public School, Hillsboro Public School and Fosston (Minnesota) Middle School attended the summit. On Friday, students from Schroeder Middle School, Twining Middle School, Valley Middle School, Pembina North Border, Buxton Central Valley School, Climax-Shelly School, Thompson Public School, Manvel Public School and Larimore Public School attended.
Brink said interest in the summit is only increasing, especially as career and technical education is being highlighted and prioritized across the state.
“If you build it, they’ll come,” he said.