Stanley Students Attend North Dakota T4 Summit
By Erika Littlefield
On Tuesday, November 18 and Wednesday, November 19, Stanley junior and senior high school students took part in the North Dakota T4 (Tools, Trades, Torque, and Tech) Summit, held at the Fair Building and South Complex. The two-day event, hosted by the T4 team, introduced students in grades 7-12 to a wide range of career opportunities available across North Dakota through hands-on sessions led by industry experts.
The T4 team travels statewide, hosting summits designed to broaden students’ awareness of workforce opportunities. The events focused on building essential job skills, highlighting industry needs, and offering valuable connections with professionals. Topics explored during the summit included advanced manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence, agriculture, healthcare, cybersecurity, law enforcement, transportation, construction trades, and energy operations such as petroleum and natural gas.
The summit began with two keynote speakers. Patrick Bertagnolli, executive director of Job Service North Dakota, shared his personal career journey and emphasized the abundance of opportunities within the state. “Together we are North Dakota, and this is home; we are what make North Dakota home,” he told students.
Following him, Shawn Brink spoke to students about the mission of T4 and encouraged them to approach the summit as an opportunity to explore and learn about the many career paths available in North Dakota.
Nine schools from across the region attended the summit, including Burke Central, North Shore Plaza, Stanley, Divide County, Ray, Powers Lake, Tioga, Kenmare, and Dakota Memorial. Students were placed into groups and participated in four randomly assigned hands-on sessions, allowing them to explore a variety of trades and technical skills.
The summit offered 25 engaging sessions, such as Wizard Electronics, AEAT Division and Grant Teams, UAS Flight Simulator, Technical Theatre Demonstration, World of Flight, Engineering Egg Drop, Virtual Energy Career Exploration, Drive Smart: Tools & Tech Behind Vision Zero, Let’s Build a Pipeline, Oil and Gas Equipment Demonstrations, Gas Processing and Pipeline Operations, Power Plant Puzzle, Civil Engineering and Surveying, EOG and the Oil Industry, National Guard Opportunities, World of Machining, Farm and Construction Safety, Heavy Equipment Simulator, Virtual Work-Based Learning, BASC Automation Program, BASC Building Trades, Jeopardy: Preparing for Your Future, and Tools for Keeping Young Workers Safe. These sessions were led by college professors, industry professionals, and workforce leaders, giving students meaningful exposure to real-world career paths.
A special thank-you goes out to the businesses and organizations that made the North Dakota T4 Summit possible: Lignite Energy Council, ConocoPhillips, Marathon, Alliance Pipeline, the North Dakota Petroleum Foundation, Aux Sable, TC Energy, ONEOK, the North Dakota Oil and Gas Research Program, Chord Energy, Pembina, Devon, and Enbridge.
Their support played a vital role in providing students with an exceptional learning experience and a deeper understanding of career opportunities in North Dakota.