Empowering America’s future energy workforce.

For a decade, Luminary Labs has had the privilege of working alongside the U.S. Department of Education to design and produce open innovation programs that help transform educational experiences for students and teachers across the country. From designing a national challenge to build technical skills for careers in space to helping augmented reality, virtual reality, and gaming developers produce edtech that strengthen academic, technical, and employability skills, we have been honored to support the Department in advancing innovation in the classroom. Our latest engagement with the Department addresses one of the most consequential challenges facing the planet today: empowering students to prepare for essential careers while helping our nation transition to a cleaner and more resilient economy. 

Driven by the urgency of the global climate crisis and boosted by recent historic federal investments, America’s transition to a green economy is accelerating. Recent federal investments alone are expected to generate an average of 2.9 million new green jobs per year, and many of those jobs will require special skills and training. According to some estimates, the green economy will face a skills gap of as many as 7 million workers by 2030, and the energy sector will be most impacted. Without a concerted effort to upskill and reskill our workforce, we risk falling short of crucial climate targets — and missing an opportunity to bring economic prosperity to families and communities across the country.

This week, the U.S. Department of Education launched the Power Your Future Challenge, which inspires students to envision and pursue clean energy careers. By developing action plans to advance the use of clean energy in their local schools and communities, participating teachers and students will get hands-on experience designing clean energy solutions that can make a real-world impact. The challenge will also connect career and technical education (CTE) students to the vast career opportunities in clean energy and other vital infrastructure industries, helping them gain skills in construction, manufacturing, engineering, and other trades that align with clean energy careers.

To get started, teachers and community partners can explore the available resources to learn more about clean energy and how teams can develop action plans to implement clean energy solutions in their schools and communities. Submissions are due by November 19, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The Power Your Future Challenge is the second challenge in the Department’s annual CTE Momentum series. Designed and produced by Luminary Labs, CTE Momentum helps prepare high school students for rewarding careers and increases access to career and technical education by inviting them to participate in a challenge focused on a topic of national importance. The Your Place in Space Challenge — the first in the series — helped students connect the dots between the skills students build in CTE programs and the fulfilling careers they can have in the space industry. Students across the country designed products and services that could contribute to space missions and exploration. 

Interested educators can learn more about the Power Your Future Challenge at the September 10 virtual information session. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Education and the challenge team will present an overview of the challenge and answer questions submitted in advance.  

Make sure the teachers in your community know about this exciting opportunity — use this toolkit to share news of the Power Your Future Challenge with your network.