Warwick Area Career & Technical Center

Students enrolled in the WACTC Engineering, Drafting, & Design program had a unique
opportunity to participate in a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and
Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee.
The WACTC students that competed in the WindWin RI competition in April were asked
to participate in a special meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Energy on Friday June 2nd at the
Quonset Development Headquarters in Quonset Point. The purpose of the meeting was to show
how Rhode Island’s initiative to generate interest and provide training through the WindWin
competition, and integration of the STEM curriculum in highschool and career center programs
has influenced the student’s future education and employment plans, as well as show how
Rhode Island is making sure that when the wind turbine industry brings their operations to the
state, there will be a capable workforce ready to support their efforts.
The invitation came from the Director of the North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce,
Kristin Urbach, for the purpose of providing a student perspective on how the program has
impacted their learning as engineers in training.
WACTC students, Trevor DiPanni, and Andrew Cahoon met with both Secretary
Granholm and Governor McKee to share their experience, wind turbine and generator designs,
engineering notebooks, and project displays. Trevor and Andrew did an excellent job
representing the Warwick Area Career & Technical Center, the Engineering program, and the
WindWIn RI educational program.

RI Windwin Special Meeting