The X-Cel Conservation Corps of Boston seeks to address two needs: the workforce shortage in the wastewater industry and providing employment opportunities for young adults, ages 18-29. X-Cel prepares Boston youth for good-paying green jobs in water management and conservation.
Recently, students from the X-Cel Conservation Corps came to The Pinehills in Plymouth for a first-hand look at the community’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. The size of a small municipal plant and operating 24/7, the facility serves The Pinehills’ 4000+ residents and 30 businesses including shops, offices, restaurants, golf courses and a hotel. Tom Lee of the Horsley Witten Group and Kevin Barry of Woodard Curran, who is the hands-on operator of the facility, led the tour of the plant and explained its’ operations to the students. “The Pinehills Wastewater Treatment Plant served as an outdoor classroom for these students, and they got to see first-hand how it operates,” says Lee. “They were interested and engaged and seem excited and ready to pass their tests and enter this field. We are excited too!”
Also in attendance was Lindsey Santana from The City of Boston’s Department of Environment, Energy and Open Space, there to learn about the X-Cel program as a possible fit for the city’s Green Jobs initiative.
Pictured here are the students in action both inside the classroom and outside the plant along with X-Cel's Program Coordinator Aaron Dale and Executive Director Don Sands, Horsley Witten's Josephine Ibanez, and Lee and Barry advising.
