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WIRED Initiative

Building and Sustaining a Pipeline of Process and Maintenance Technicians

RRCCOrganization: Red Rocks Community College

Grant Round: Jumpstart

Program’s Objectives: Red Rocks Community College (RRCC) program trains process and maintenance technicians for the energy industry and more general manufacturing positions. The program begins at several local high schools where students receive college credit toward the Process Technology program taught at are RRCC. Industry partners in this project include Suncor, Xcel Energy, and Coors Brewing Company.

Individuals Served: The program has over 200 college students engaged at various levels of completion at the college. There are also over 150 high school students enrolled in Process Science I and II and Algebra 2 for Process Science courses at four Jefferson County High Schools. In addition, the programs have been promoted to over 2,000 people in the community through career and job fairs, community events, and on-site and off-site school visits. 

Success Story: Through the WIRED grant, there has been an introduction of three new year-long science credit courses and an energy industry related Math credit course at local area high schools. The courses provide students with “real world” industry based classroom work in both the traditional and renewable energy areas while addressing established science and math learning objectives.

Quote: “There is definitely an increased level of excitement and interest on the part of both students and teachers around the new math and science courses in the area of both traditional and renewable energies. It has been a great opportunity for the college and high schools to work together to build the integrated programs.”
-- Joan Smith, Dean of Instruction, Red Rocks Community College

Collaborators: Jefferson County Schools, Denver Public Schools, Colorado E-Star, Colorado Energy Science Center, Jefferson County Workforce Center, Department of Veterans Affairs, Loveland High School, Goodwill Industries, Thornton High School, Colorado School of Mines, CAEL, Colorado Center for Manufacturing and Technology, Adams County Economic Council, Colorado Department of Labor, Rockies Alliance for Process Technology, American Petroleum Institute, Suncor Energy USA, Miller-Coors Brewing Company, Xcel Energy, Venoco and Ball Corporation.