Oregon Tradeswomen Graduate Receives Green Construction Scholarship!
Oregon Tradeswomen pre-apprenticeship student Chelsey Acker (foreground) helps frame a new tiny house at Dignity Village in Northeast Portland. This project is part of the curriculum for the current cohort of OTI pre-apprentices. (Josh Kulla/DJC)
During each cohort of our Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class, students have the option of extending their training to learn more about environmental careers. During a recent class, Energy Trust of Oregon and Earth Advantage let us know about a few scholarships available for their Sustainable Homes Professional (SHP) course as a way to get started into a career in green construction. Chelsea Acker applied and won one of the full-tuition scholarships worth $1,600! Congratulations, Chelsea, and thank you so much Energy Trust of Oregon and Earth Advantage!
Update 2/27/2019:
We are pleased to announce that Chelsea has successfully completed her Sustainable Homes Professional course and is now working full time at Green Hammer! She reached out to Earth Advantage after she got hired to send them a lovely thank you message:
“I am writing to extend many thanks and extreme gratitude to Earth Advantage. I am one of the SHP Scholarship awardees from the current SHP class. I graduated from Oregon Tradeswomen this past summer and knew I wanted to start my career in carpentry working for a company that focused on high performance energy efficient and sustainable builds. The SHP class was recommended to me as a way to learn more about building science and meet others who are active in this field. Within a few months into the course, I found myself passionate about building science, and applying for jobs. I was hired full-time at Green Hammer just a few weeks ago and it is my dream job! I can’t believe I am getting to begin my career with such an amazing company that aligns so clearly with my ethics, values, and passion. I honestly DO NOT believe that I would have gotten the job if it weren’t for this SHP course, and there is no way as a woman entering the field with little to no experience that I would have been able to afford this course on my own. I am extremely grateful and humbled by this opportunity and wanted to extend many many thanks for believing in me and giving me this chance. This course made is possible for me to enter into the trades with a focus on high performance energy efficient homes/buildings.”