Alabama’s small towns are losing many of their water treatment operators, utility technicians and environmental specialists due to employees retiring. Good-paying jobs with benefits are going unfilled because students graduate from high school without being aware of these careers.
When it’s time for students to choose a college, some already have a clear path in mind. But for many, real exposure to potential careers is far more limited than most professionals might realize.
The Alabama Water Institute is helping to raise awareness about the different careers in hydrology by introducing a new interactive tool to 4,000 ninth graders from nine different counties.
This year was the first year the Wheel of Water was introduced as part of the Worlds of Work event at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa. The Wheel of Water, which has eight water-related categories, is tied to AWI’s research and mission. Students spin the wheel and answer questions based on drought, flooding, water quality, careers in water, water security, conservation, ecology and rivers. The questions for this event were designed specifically to reflect the nine counties represented by the students attending WOW. Each question was tailored to highlight unique aspects of these counties, ensuring the content is relevant and engaging for the participants.
“A lot of these students who come to WOW approach us, and they don’t really know much about careers in water,” said Lanna Nations, AWI’s director of education and outreach. “Water is a vast and diverse field – there’s a place for everyone in it.”
WOW is an important event because it builds strategic and sustained investment in workforce development. It also provides students the opportunity to learn what AWI’s mission is, which in part, is to find a solution to the water worker shortage by training the next generation of scientists.
“It makes me extremely proud because when I was growing up, when I was in ninth grade, I had no clue what careers were out there apart from educators, firefighters, and police officers,” Nations said. “This is a really great opportunity for them to spend a day learning about a broad variety of careers and to be able to speak to people that have worked in the field for 15 or 20 years. They have a lot of institutional knowledge and can inform them and share what they do, what to expect and how to navigate the pipeline to get there.”
WOW, an annual event hosted by West Alabama Works, helps students discover the vital role they could play in Alabama’s water future. It highlights how operators, technicians and engineers keep the state’s water systems running and helps students imagine themselves doing that essential work in the years ahead.