SPE’s Energy4me program: Bringing energy into the classroom

Mobilizing SPE’s 79,000 members in 115 countries to make classroom presentations is a cornerstone of the program. The speaker program is not a new concept for SPE. In fact, members have been making presentations to schools and civic groups for decades.

For many of today’s professionals, their moment of career enlightenment came at an early age – maybe at a trip to the pediatricians’ office, in the classroom of a favorite teacher or while watching their parents balance the family checkbook. Whether someone chooses medicine, education, accounting, or petroleum engineering, there is no doubt that they were influenced by the adults in their lives.

Based on that principle, the Energy Information Committee (EIC) of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) developed a vision of providing a balanced, fact-based energy information program to reach students, teachers and the general public (including parents) about the importance of energy in our everyday lives and the bright career opportunities in petroleum engineering. The committee is made up of SPE members from around the world with a passion for energy education and currently is chaired by Dr. William Pike, editor in chief, E&P.
The result is SPE’s Energy4me program, which includes a dedicated energy information Web site (www.energy4me.org), fresh new materials for SPE members to use in making classroom presentations worldwide, a new emphasis on reaching teachers with workshops and materials, and an Energy Ambassador speaker program for reaching opinion leaders.

Speaker program

Mobilizing SPE’s 79,000 members in 115 countries to make classroom presentations is a cornerstone of the program. The speaker program is not a new concept for SPE. In fact, members have been making presentations to schools and civic groups for decades. On their own initiative, members visited classrooms and discussed how oil was found and produced. They even shared examples from a demonstration kit that SPE formerly produced. The Energy4me program expanded this effort to create an easy-to-use system for connecting speakers to today’s students.

Energy4me.org is an online resource for most of the new materials. On this site, speakers can find PowerPoint presentations for all grade levels as well as adults. There are also brochures, handouts and tips to improve their speaking engagements. By empowering speakers with presentations and additional resources, Energy4me hopes to reach even more students with a clear message – petroleum engineering is an exciting and rewarding career choice with unlimited possibilities.

Speakers are not the only ones who benefit from resources on Energy4me.org. Schools, civic groups and other educational organizations can go online to request a member presentation. Recently, SPE fulfilled a request for a bilingual, Spanish-speaking young professional who could relate to middle-school students in South Texas. The students were able to hear from someone just like them who became a petroleum engineer.

Often, the message includes more than just career information, and speakers are asked to talk about other forms of energy and how oil and gas contribute to the energy mix. The Web site and materials address all energy sources. The Energy4me Kit is a classroom presentation toolkit that will debut this year, providing a speaker’s guide and a CD with ready-to-use presentations and interactive classroom activities grouped by age level. A set of colorful fact-or-fiction quiz cards helps speakers to stimulate discussion with students. Teachers also can use the kit.

In addition to the classroom speakers, the Energy Ambassadors program provides experienced, executive-level speakers to make presentations about the oil and gas industry to specialized audiences of opinion leaders such as educators, government officials or community leaders. These ambassadors address the “myths” about the oil industry and are prepared to handle questions about current issues like fuel prices or climate change. Energy Ambassadors have addressed groups such as the Department of Energy orientation for new energy analysts in Washington, D.C., and national teacher conferences.

Teacher training

Looking beyond the speaker programs, SPE expanded its efforts to include teacher training. By hosting energy education workshops at selected SPE conferences, the Energy4me program builds awareness of petroleum engineering careers and promotes understanding of the energy industry. SPE hosted more than 65 teachers at a workshop at its Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, Calif., last year. In 2008, SPE is planning three teacher workshops at conferences in Calgary, Alberta; Perth, Australia; and Denver.

Another educational tool is a new book that explains the oil and gas industry in a rich, graphic format with short text items that will appeal to middle and high school students. SPE worked with a well-known publisher of children’s science books to produce “Oil and Natural Gas,” and even adults and elementary students will find the book interesting and informative. Members who make presentations to classrooms are invited to give a book to the school library, and SPE is distributing the books to teachers, libraries and schools as well as petroleum museums.

Student outreach

The Energy4me program offers many career resources for students. Since paying for college is an overriding concern, SPE has created an online database of scholarships from all SPE sections worldwide. Energy4me.org also offers information on university programs, career descriptions and video interviews from young professionals in the industry.

In addition to career information, students of all ages can also find research for school reports and science fair projects. And for younger children, the site offers fun activities and coloring pages related to energy.

Essential energy information

For the general public, Energy4me.org provides accurate energy information from a trusted resource – SPE. The site addresses important topics such as how much oil is left, what the industry is doing to protect the environment and how alternative energy sources compare on benefits and costs.

Solving the talent shortage

The need for attracting new talent is one of the most pressing issues facing the industry. It will be today’s young professionals, tomorrow’s new industry entrants from university programs, and – looking even further out – the next generation of students just beginning to study math and science in their elementary school classes who will be called upon to meet the expanding demand for energy.

Energy4me is helping to build awareness of careers in our industry, but student outreach is more than one society or one company can accomplish independently. Solving the oil and gas industry’s talent shortage will require unprecedented coordination and collaboration among the professional societies as well as between academia and industry. It will take all of us working together to get the word to students, parents, teachers, school counselors and the news media that this is the best time in a generation to work in the oil and gas industry and that our work is a great and rewarding adventure.

Imagine how many students SPE could reach if all 79,000 members made just one school presentation this year. Now, imagine if all of the geoscientists, engineers, scientists, researchers and other professionals made a school presentation.
For more information, please email energyed@energy-4me.org, or visit www.energy4me.org.