Green STEM Career Education Initiative Partners with Ingersoll Rand’s Trane and Thermo King Brands

Will Steger Legacy is pleased to announce it will partner with Ingersoll Rand’s Thermo King and Trane businesses to further its national climate change education Green STEM Career initiative for the 2019-2020 year.

Together, the organizations will develop a new curriculum resource for educators and expand the existing Green Careers for a Changing Climate documentary and discussion guide. These education initiatives will reach over 5,000 educators across the U.S. and support Climate Generation’s mission to empower individuals and their communities to engage in solutions to climate change.

“We’re excited to partner with Ingersoll Rand and its Thermo King and Trane businesses to meet the need for Green STEM Career education,” says Nicole Rom, executive director of Climate Generation. “These careers are growing rapidly, but students don’t have the knowledge of what they are or what education pathway is needed to achieve them. Many educators in our nationwide network have expressed a desire for more classroom resources to help their students understand the skills and training needed for these careers.”

Nearly 27 percent of workers in the manufacturing sector will retire over the next decade which leaves up to 3.5 million engineering and manufacturing jobs that will need to be filled in the U.S. In 2018, the number of teenage boys interested in STEM careers dropped from 36 percent to 24 percent while the number of teenage girls with the same interest remained at only 11 percent.

“Companies like ours are experiencing the challenge of an aging workforce and establishing a pipeline of talent for STEM jobs,” said Donny Simmons, president of Ingersoll Rand’s commercial HVAC business in the U.S. and EMEA. “Partnering with Climate Generation will provide thousands of educators and students with breakthrough tools for learning about environmental, social and business sustainability and related careers. This type of experiential learning helps equip students with the tools they need to build a sustainable future.”

Since 2006, Climate Generation has built a suite of STEM-based climate change and energy curriculum resources and professional development opportunities for educators that are interdisciplinary and designed to foster student’s problem-solving and critical thinking skills.