ComEd BEAM Event Lights Local Students’ Path to Careers in Energy

To celebrate this month’s National Black Energy Awareness month (BEAM), ComEd and the AABE (American Association for Blacks in Energy) Chicago Chapter teamed up with local organizations to host 20 fifth graders at an event organized to spark interest in careers in the clean energy field. In partnership with Polished Pebbles, a local mentoring program, a group of female students from Lindop Elementary School, in the community of Broadview located west of Chicago, spent their morning at ComEd’s Oak Brook headquarters learning about the important role energy plays in our daily lives, the fast-growing clean energy sector and the great variety of career opportunities in it.

This AABE event was organized to help further ComEd’s work to connect students to STEM opportunities, and to shine a distinct and bright light on Black Energy Awareness Month, celebrated nationally each year in October to recognize the unique contributions of Blacks in the energy field.

“At ComEd, we are working to create diverse pathways for the next generation to take on exciting roles in the clean energy and STEM fields, which happen to be some of the fastest-growing career fields in the country,” said Laticia Holbert, senior manager of workforce development at ComEd. “With our BEAM-focused STEM event, we are giving local students a chance not only to meet some of the most inspiring executives in our field, but to help them see themselves in careers at our company and in the industry. We hope that through events like these we can inspire more youth to take on careers that will help advance the energy industry’s transition to a cleaner future.”

left to right: Diana Sharpe, Keisha Parker, Felicia Cummings, Jessica Garmon, Jennifer Morrison

During the program, a panel of five women in leadership roles from the energy industry here in Illinois provided students insights on what their career journey was like, learnings, and pieces of advice they wished they had when they were their age. The panelists, which included company execs and leaders from ComEd partnering organizations, shared their experiences about how they have risen through the ranks, and got their start in the utilities and construction fields. The panel included:

• Felicia Cummings, Vice President of Compensation, Exelon
• Jessica Ashley Garmon, Chief Operating Officer & Chief General Counsel, The Will Group
• Jennifer Morrison, Program Director, Supplier Diversity and Community Outreach, IL American Water
• Keisha Parker, Vice President of External Affairs, ComEd
• Diana Sharpe, Vice President of National Accounts, Exelon

“The AABE Chicago Chapter is thrilled to celebrate and recognize BEAM on both local and national stages,” said Alex Jackson, AABE Chicago Chapter President and superintendent of field operations for Southern Company Gas. “Energy is the lifeblood of our daily existence, and we are proud to honor and acknowledge the vast opportunities within the energy sector, as well as the significant contributions of minorities, students, and professionals who drive innovation and progress.”

left to right: Schereina Horton, Mia, Zuri

With the clean energy transition expected to create up to 150,000 jobs in Illinois by 2050, a wide variety of roles – from trades to engineers to administrative roles, to name a few – also present the opportunity to tap into good-paying, family-sustaining jobs.

“It meant a lot to me to be a panelist because I saw myself in the girls,” said Jessica Ashley Garmon, chief operating officer and chief general counsel for The Will Group. “Though I didn’t grow up knowing any Black female corporate executives, I’m grateful that kids today, including my own children, are growing up in a world where they have access to more opportunities for inspiration. I hope that after today’s event, the girls know that they have a voice, power, and endless options in their future.”

Beyond the thought-provoking panel discussion, students also had a chance to meet one-on-one with mentors to ask any burning questions or for personalized advice.

“I really enjoyed today and the opportunity to hear from experienced people,” said Mia, 5^th grader at Lindop Elementary. “I was inspired by a leader’s story about how she loved engineering and though at first she was the only Black girl in those spaces, she was able to change it so that more Black girls are encouraged to be engineers too. I’ve learned to be more confident and to not be afraid to try new things.”

To close out the program, students created “vision boards,” an activity organized by Schereina Horton, senior workforce development specialist and AABE Chapter Representative at ComEd, that allowed them to more clearly see their future path and the milestones they need to reach to fulfill their dreams. By cutting out images from magazines and pasting them on a poster board, each student was tasked with creating a personalized roadmap to achieving their educational and career goals to help push them forward in their career pursuits.

“When ComEd partners with Polished Pebbles and provides an opportunity for our girls to hear from leaders who look like them, it helps close the ‘hope gap’, building students’ hope and inspiration for future career possibilities,” said Kelly Fair, founder and CEO of Polished Pebbles. “After 15 years of connecting schools, families, and girls to these kinds of opportunities, we’ve seen the great positive impact it makes on young students to be connected to these types of experiences early on – many go on to become professionals and role models for the next generation. This builds towards our long-term vision of closing all the gaps from the gender pay gap to the gender leadership gap.”

The BEAM event is just one example of how ComEd is reaching more youth with growing career paths in the energy field. ComEd’s youth programs deliver a range of STEM and energy career exposure programs every year, with recruitment to reach students from across the diverse communities ComEd serves in northern Illinois. Collectively these programs reach 1,000 or more youth every year.

To learn more about ComEd’s workforce and training programs, visit www.ComEd.com/CleanEnergyJobs.