Governor Patrick, local students tour South Boston's Innovation District

February 03, 2012|By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent, Globe Staff

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

Governor Deval Patrick and a group of high school students received an introduction Friday to one local business in South Boston’s Innovation District.

Dubbed the “Clean Tech Career Challenge,” the trip brought 25 students from Green Academy, John D. O'Bryant School, Boston Latin Academy, TechBoston Academy and Dorchester Academy to FastCAP Systems, an energy storage company. There, they spoke with the governor about the importance of science, technology, engineering and math.

“The students of the Commonwealth will drive our economic future and it is up to us to give them the tools to succeed,” Patrick said in a statement. “There is no better way to prepare them for STEM careers than to connect them with real-world cutting-edge companies like FastCAP Systems.”

The visit to the waterfront was the second stop on a series of field trips local high school students have been taking to a variety of business throughout the Innovation District to spark interest in the STEM fields and connect students with those in the industry.

Massachusetts saw a jump in the clean energy field in the past year. From July 2010 to July 2011 the sector grew by 6.7 percent, according to a recent study by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

Today's event was collaboration of the Boston Private Industry Council, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, MassCEC, Satcon Technology Corporation, and Greentown Labs.

E-mail Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.