T4 stands for tools, trades, torque and tech, which is similar to STEM which stands for science technology, engineering and math. The T4 Summit gives young people the opportunity to participate in hands-on career exploration. The goal is to help students learn what careers are available in North Dakota by introducing them to the skills needed in local industries, training options, needs of local employers and opportunities to connect with industry leaders and technicians face-to-face.

“The open jobs – we have close to 50,000. What my favorite part of this slide is, and you’ll see – out of all those jobs, 35.7% require a bachelor’s degree or higher. What that doesn’t say is 64% of the jobs in the state of North Dakota require two year degrees or less,” said Pat Bertagnoli, executive director of Job Service North Dakota. He went on to commend the T4 Summit team for bringing light to under-considered jobs in N.D. and the work they put in to pull professionals from around the state to this event.

Bertagnoli went on to talk about the importance of retaining N.D.’s workforce and the impact of small communities. Bertagnoli himself isn’t a N.D. native. He was working in Montana for UPS for 22 years before a friend of his asked him to come to the state to consider an administrative job opening in the oil field. When he visited Watford City, he said it wasn’t the job that convinced him to move, it was the people he interacted with. He told a story about going to a restaurant and his waitresses introducing themselves to him and afterwards they followed him outside and told them how happy they would be to have him become a part of their community, which he credits was the moment he knew he wanted to live in N.D.

Bertagnoli said he took pride in his community and worked hard to facilitate further growth in the community by orchestrating various welcome wagon programs, such as student-lead school tours for new students. He also encouraged community support for local teams and organizations by inspiring family, friends and neighbors to show up to games, recitals and plays.

Angie Reinhoel/MDN Rugby Public School students Reagen Hager, left, and Aubery Musser, right, use a pipe wrench during a hands-on piping system demonstration facilitated by Greg Luger of Bismarck State College who was showcasing their automation, energy and advanced technologies program.

“I had a front row seat to the greatest growth in the nation where I saw people flock from all over the nation to western North Dakota to find the best version of themselves,” Bertagnoli said.

During his speech he stressed the importance of a job not just being a job, it’s the community your job is in and the people you work with, which he said is unique to N.D.

Bertagnoli also spoke about the various tools from N.D. Job Service that are available to students, including a virtual reality platform that brings students directly to the work yard.

“From our agency perspective, we’re out here advocating for industry and our youth. … What I love about this platform is it’s more intentional about making sure that you know about the great jobs in the state of North Dakota so that we can actually retain you in the state of North Dakota,” he said.

T4 Summit Director Kent Ellis spoke to the students about the importance of the job industries they were about to learn about.

Angie Reinhoel/MDN A Bottineau student welds her initials on a metal plate using a high-tech welding simulator. The workshop was led by T4 Summit director Kent Ellis, left.

“Each one of these sessions will be hosted by professionals in various fields – ask them about their salaries, ask them about their training, ask them about ‘If you were going to start all over again in electronics, where would you go? How would you get that training?’ These people are open to talk to you about their careers, about how they got here,” Ellis said.

Ellis also spoke about difficulties students will face in their future jobs. “Your generation is going to meet some challenges that my generation never did. Not only computers, but it’s going to be automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, you cannot look backwards and be afraid and run away from it. You must embrace it because it will be your future in the workforce,” he said.

Aimee Erdman, coordinator for North Central Education Cooperative said, “Today is the fun part where we get to see them interacting and doing all these hands-on activities. It’s like I wish I had this when I was in school. It’s so much fun. … We want them to have the exposure to all of the opportunities that are available to them that they maybe have just never thought about or heard of.”

Sessions included demonstrations from Dakota College at Bottineau, Workforce Safety and Insurance, Lignite Energy Council, Hess Corporation, Butler Machinery, Gooseneck Implement and Lynnes Welding Training.

NCEC is based in Bottineau and aims to empower teachers, administrators and students through professional learning opportunities. It collaborates with the Lake Region Teacher Center, other North Dakota Regional Education Cooperatives and various state and national partners.