Virtual Classroom Sustainability/Green Jobs Mentor

Save to Favorites

Contribute to the growth of the green job sector without leaving your office! Connect with classrooms to provide insight into your world of work, apply your skills to explain, mentor or evaluate student projects, and introduce them to a world of possibilities that can help transform their learning and their futures. Volunteers engage with a K-12 teacher and their classroom through video chat for 20-60 minutes to build a brand among the next generation while inspiring students for a better future.

This skills-based volunteer position is possible through a partnership between USGBC and Nepris. Nepris is an online platform that matches employees’ skills to classroom and curriculum needs to create meaningful virtual interactions with the next generation of workers, anywhere, anytime, through sessions about career exploration, resume/interview prep, virtual tours, topic discussions, and more.

Volunteers have two options for engaging with classrooms virtually: a) hosting an "Industry Chat" about a topic of the volunteers’ choosing that they believe students should know more about; and/or b) responding to a request from a teacher to provide information about a specific topic.

Responsibilities

• Volunteer must create a profile at https://usgbc.nepris.com/ in order to identify skills and interests that will assist in matching with teacher requests.
• Volunteers are expected to host at least one Industry Chat and respond to one teacher-requested session per year, but many volunteers do more.
• Hosting an Industry Chat or responding to a teacher-requested session includes planning the content of a session, creating the session within Nepris, and in some cases, communicating in advance with Nepris or a teacher. Total prep time approximately 30 minutes.

Benefits

Over 11 million students in rural schools across the country lack access to a diversity of industry professionals. Volunteers will directly engage with teachers and their classrooms through virtual sessions, inspiring young minds to consider jobs in the sustainability sector, and more deeply understand sustainability and how their classroom curriculum is relevant in the real world.

For each successfully completed session, a volunteer can receive 1 GBCI CE hour for their LEED professional credential.

Qualifications

Volunteers who have the following qualifications are best-suited to this opportunity:

• Professional knowledge, skills, degrees, credentials in any corner of the sustainability or green jobs sector
• At least moderate public speaking skills
• A disposition for speaking to and with students
• Basic presentation skills
• A computer with internet connection

Time Commitment

Creating a profile will take 15 minutes. For each Industry Chat or teacher-requested session, a volunteer can expect to spend a total of 1-2 hours for preparation, rehearsal and implementation.

Term Limits

At any time, volunteers can "turn off" their Nepris engagement and communications via their profile.