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 West
Coast
Region
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For several years the
University of Southern California and PTTC’s West Coast
Region organized the COMET student training/ internship
program, which was one-week of concentrated classroom
training, supplemented with a field trip, and followed for
many by internships with local companies. Although COMET has
not been held recently, there are other resources in
California to entice promising students into the O&G
industry. Taft Union High School in Taft, CA created the
unique “Taft Oil-Technology Academy”
(www.taft.
k12.ca.us/programs/oil/index.html) in 2001 within
Taft Union High School. The Taft Union High School District
encompasses three of the five largest producing onshore
oilfields in the lower-48 states and its that concentration
that led to the Oil-Technology Academy being created.
Ongoing since 2001, the Academy is a three-year, sequential
program of 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, in a
college-preparatory curriculum. It has 105-130 students out
of the 1,000 in Taft High, all volunteer who had to go
through an extensive application, screening and interview
process during their 9th grade year to be accepted. The
instructors in the program are also volunteers, which means
all have enthusiasm and focus.
A California Partnership
Academy includes: the State of California which provides
grant money and guidelines; the school which ‘matches’ or
exceeds the grant fund amount; and Business Partners who may
‘match’ or exceed (both monetarily outright or with
‘money-in-kind’) the grant fund. The Business Partner
‘match’ amount is the total of all Business Partners. The
Taft Oil-Technology Academy offers opportunities for
students and creates opportunities for possible future
employees, stimulating their interest early in their career.
This unique program is designed to meet the needs of both
the college-bound student, and the student who aspires to
enter the workforce right out of high school.
In their
Sophomore year students learn and use extensively throughout
the three-year program, Word-Excel-PowerPoint-and video
editing. These are used both in individual and in group/team
projects and subsequent presentation/public speaking
engagements. In this year students also work on units
dealing in |
2008 Graduating Class
Reprinted with
permission.
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Careers, Geology, Exploration and Drilling,
Engineering (bridge building project), and Alternative
Energy. During these units, guest speakers from the industry
discuss the respective topics with the classes in addition
to the usual classroom discussion and research that the
students conduct using the laptop each student has been
issued. At the end of each unit, field trips to working
locations are provided by our Business Partners. Students
must write reports, create and conduct PowerPoint
presentations on the topic, and write follow-up reports and
thank-you notes after the field trips.
Juniors study units on Production, Refining,
Marketing, Transportation, Environmental Concerns and
Regulations, as well as an Invention Project. They also
research, compile information pro and con, and work in teams
for a formal debate on a pertinent/controversial topic
related to the petroleum industry, such as drilling in A.N.W.R. or opening offshore
leases to drilling and production, etc. During each unit on
Production, etc., the students research and complete a
written report, create and conduct a PowerPoint presentation
(usually as a group project), followed by a guest speaker
presentation and field trip to industry sites provided by
our Business Partners.
In their Senior year students review
all of the above, plus Job Shadowing is added. Job Shadowing
is a ride-along experience with Business Partner personnel
in career areas the students have focused on during |
their three years in the Academy. Paid internships upon
graduation are the goal for Seniors. The Seniors also become
PASSPORT certified (industry safety, first-aid and CPR)
during the year. They have a year-long Senior Project to
complete and present at the end of the year. Business
Partner, Fred Holmes, Holmes Western Oil Corporation, has
been involved since the beginning. One thing he has noticed
that encourages him—these kids have a plan for what they are
going to do. He also noted that being a business partner
provides him an opportunity to be a Mentor, instilling work
ethics and the “right way of doing life.” The Taft
Oil-Technology Academy is the only high school
college-preparatory, school-to-career partnership academy in
the nation, out of over 3,000 academies, with a career focus
on the Petroleum Industry. For further information, please
contact Rick Woodson, Coordinator at
taftoiltech1@yahoo.com. |
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Workshop Topics
To Look Forward To
(check calendar on
www.pttc.org
for latest information)
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8/6 Geology for the
Non-Geologist - Long Beach, CA.
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8/7 Geology for the
Non-Geologist - Bakersfield, CA.
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9/TBD Artificial Lift
Systems (Harbison Fischer/Lufkin) - Long Beach, CA.
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9/TBD Artificial Lift
Systems (Harbison Fischer/Lufkin) - Bakersfield, CA.
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10/30 Joint Annual Tech
Conference (CCCOGP, DOG) - Bakersfield, CA
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