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First Posted: 2/26/2014 TUNKHANNOCK &#8212; Passing around giant drill bit replicas, students got an up-close look at the business that educators want students to know could be their future.
Tunkhannock Area High School hosted energy industry representatives Wednesday to speak to their freshman class on careers in energy production. Natural gas drilling took center stage as students moved from room to room learning about the production process and the gas locked inside the Marcellus Shale formation.
While the replica drill bits were passed around, Bill desRosiers of Cabot Oil & Gas explained that the real thing weighs about 70 pounds and costs anywhere from $10,000 to $75,000.
One student said her family leased land to drillers. Another said his big brother works for a gas company. Just about every student was aware of the industry that is extracting natural gas from the ground daily.
The series of classes, titled &#8220;Careers in Energy: Learning from the Industry,&#8221; was coordinated by Northern Tier Industry & Education Consortium, a Susquehanna County-based group that helps prime college and high school students for job placement in growing industries.
With a group of about 30 students, Mike Narcavage of Southwestern Energy walked through a virtual tour of a drilling rig site. He stopped at the bore hole for the well in-production explaining the work flow and safety precautions needed at every step of drilling a new well.
Experts predict natural gas production in the state will demand 34,000 new jobs in the next decade, desRosiers said.
Having identified the need for workers to maintain the growing industry, consortium Executive Director Peter Butler said his organization wants to provide face time for the students and those who might be their future co-workers.
&#8220;All we&#8217;re trying to do is put young people face to face with employers so they can learn about what those careers are and what the opportunities are,&#8221; Butler said. &#8220;The other part we&#8217;re trying to do is teach them science, show them some of the concepts behind the industry that are important.&#8221;
While the gas drilling is close at hand for most Tunkhannock Area students, there has been no apparent rush to get into the business as students are planning for the future, said John Shaffer, the district&#8217;s career-to-school coordinator. But he said students are looking for ways to get to work &#8212; and work that pays well &#8212; faster.
&#8220;We are seeing a shift in students&#8217; thinking that there&#8217;s other ways to be successful than a four-year education, that there&#8217;s more kids pursuing two-year educations,&#8221; Shaffer said.

Students primed on energy jobs