>>Narrator: How do I know which path is best for me?

Is it possible to take on these challenges and obstacles?

Where do I even start?

What should I do with my life?

Sometimes, the only way to find out is to go see what's possible Since 2001, we've been sharing the stories of people who ventured out and explored different career paths and different possibilities for their futures.

This is one of those stories.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: My name is Luis, and you're watching Roadtrip Nation.

All right, bro [LAUGH] >> Narrator: The road trip continues as Luis, Christiana, and Jaden are fueling up to go explore more local careers in the energy, infrastructure, and education industries.

>> Jaden: It's just been cool to just see outside of Philly's actually pretty cool too.

People have stories, people have done so many things you may not even know about.

>> Luis: In this road trip, I forget that I live here.

And there's so many different things I haven't done and explored in Pennsylvania.

>> Christiana: This road trip is just kinda showing me just to have fun in life.

Everything's not supposed to be so serious.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: Just excited again about life, optimistic.

[MUSIC] >> Charlotte: Welcome to Love Park, one of the big projects me and my team are working on is we are gonna do energy retrofits to a lot of the big buildings here downtown.

Which means we're going to be putting in more efficient light systems, HVAC systems.

And so, after so many years, those projects will have saved us money compared to the old systems, and that's what's gonna be paying for this project.

>> Luis: That's really smart.

>> Christiana: Yeah, it's very unique, too.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: From shiny new inventions, like electric cars to everyday breakthroughs in fields like heating, ventilation and air conditioning, the energy industry is leading the charge toward a greener future.

That's why today, the roadtrippers are discovering how jobs in energy could help power Southeast Pennsylvania's future.

While in Philadelphia, the team met with Charlotte Shade, who's working to help the city switch to more sustainable forms of energy.

And Luis is headed to Westchester to learn more from HVAC expert Bill Ronayne.

>> Bill: Hi Luis, my name is Bill Ronayne and I'm president of Brandywine Valley Heating and Air Conditioning.

People say, are you going to retire?

I'm like, retire from what?

I love it here, I love what I do.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: On paper, Charlotte and Bill's jobs might look completely different, but they're both putting their skills to work to help this area make the switch to cleaner forms of energy.

>> Christiana: Walk us through a day in the life here in the city of Philadelphia in the Office of Sustainability.

>> Charlotte: I do a lot of work with our fleet department, as we're trying to convert a lot of our cars from typical gas-powered cars to electric vehicles.

And I work on some renewable energy projects as well, trying to get solar for different city facilities.

And so, a lot of it is just talking with all our different departments each day as we're trying to look at where to put different things.

>> Bill: I serve on SEI, which is the Smart Energy Initiative.

And we talk about micro grids in solar, wind, geothermal, all the things that are smart energy initiatives for Southeastern PA.

So that we can continue to make progress in the fight against global warming and climate change.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: In Pennsylvania, the energy industry pays an average wage that's higher than the statewide average for all jobs.

HVAC technicians and installers can make an average annual salary of $58,240 in the state.

Environmental scientists tend to need more education to break into the field, but they can make an average of $70,320 in Pennsylvania.

And both Charlotte and Bill have bright outlook jobs, which means their careers are growing much faster than the national average.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: You can get started in the energy industry from many different entry points.

In Charlotte's field, you'll often need a bachelor's degree or beyond to get your foot in the door.

>> Jaden: How did you find your footing in renewable energy?

>> Charlotte: After I finished up my bachelor's degree, I knew I really wanted to keep doing research and I really wanted to get a graduate degree, and so I applied to Villanova's Environmental Science program.

And they made me a great offer, where I could be a teaching assistant for the department and they paid for my tuition.

So I came here and I got to help teach a few of the freshman level environmental science labs.

And so, that's what sparked my interest.

>> Christiana: What skills do you think people should develop or have to be able to break into this industry?

>> Charlotte: Yeah, I think traditionally a lot of people that studied some type of engineering are the ones that entered this field in the past.

But if you're still in school, I would suggest taking just any different course that kind of revolves around energy, and then just internship opportunities as well.

I know we have hired interns in the past that are still working here full time today.

So opportunities like that are definitely really helpful.

>> Narrator: In HVAC, the paths are a bit more varied.

You could go to vocational school, get on the job experience through apprenticeships, or even earn an associate degree.

>> Bill: I graduated on Wednesday and went to work on Thursday.

I've never spent a day in college, I spent all my time working.

I will tell you, over the past 50 years that I've been in this business, I now have a degree in business and finance, but I learned it in the street, I didn't learn it in a classroom.

>> Narrator: With education costs on the rise, it's also helpful to know that there are local programs and grants that can help you along your journey.

>> Luis: Where do you see the future of this industry going?

>> Charlotte: More and more, we're looking at renewable energy and big projects, like the solar array that we're buying power from.

Maybe in the future they'll be big wind turbines off the Jersey Shore, but we're really having to plan more as the climate changes and summers become hotter and winters become colder.

Because as you have those extreme temperatures, you need more energy to make sure our buildings are either cool enough or hot enough for people.

It kinda becomes more complicated as climate change becomes more severe.

>> Luis: So what's one piece of advice you have for students that are excited for this kind of industry?

>> Bill: A lot of students get lumped into the skilled trades because, he can't do anything else, just let him be a plumber, there's a lot more to it than that.

I mean, there's huge shortages in the skilled trades now, I think the sky's the limit in this industry.

Skilled trades in general, but certainly in HVAC.

As we attack climate change for our future and our children and our grandchildren, we only have one earth, we need to take care of it.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Why is the green RV able to drive safely down the road?

It's not a riddle, it's a testament to the importance of good infrastructure.

But many, many different systems make up Southeast Pennsylvania's infrastructure.

So the road trippers are going to dig into this wide ranging field by talking to two different people on very different paths within the industry.

>> Gina: So this is more of a master plan or a concept plan, an idea of when you get the engagement from the community, what are they looking for?

Yes, these are community gardens.

So people in the community, since they don't have much yard space, can reserve a little plot of land and then they can plant whatever they would like there.

So I'm Gina Burritt, I'm the Director of Planning here in Delaware County.

We do a lot with transportation and historic preservation, housing, helping our municipalities with their planning, comprehensive planning, zoning, those types of things.

>> Narrator: Gina's work may embody what you think about when you picture infrastructure, planning, transportation, construction.

But with so much of our lives now taking place online, access to technology is important to every region's infrastructure too.

And that's why the roadtrippers stopped by Altek, which helps local businesses run their digital operations safely.

>> Isaac: My name is Isaac and I work full time at Altek Business Systems and I work in the IT department.

I didn't go to college because I wanted to pursue a certification endeavor, so like A+, net plus, stuff like that, it's kind of like mini degrees.

>> Christiana: In terms of additional certifications, are you looking to get any other additional training?

>> Isaac: Yes, so I actually do plan on taking my A+ certification today at 3:15.

>> Christiana: Oh!

>> Isaac: So [LAUGH] Hopefully,I think I'm gonna pass that.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: Can you describe what exactly is a community planner in your own words?

>> Gina: Yeah, so we really just try to make sure we're listening to our residents.

What are they looking for?

What are the issues they're having?

It could be transportation, cars, but also transit to the bus, the train.

We have regional rail, we've got trolleys, people who wanna bike and walk.

So how do people access their jobs, their neighbors, their community centers, their grocery stores?

How do they get there?

We look at things like housing, which is a hot topic right now.

So it is just trying to take that vision and turn it into reality.

>> Luis: Could you describe maybe in your own words, what IT means to you and how it can help in our world?

>> Isaac: The Internet is just a way of keeping everyone connected so IT, a lot of protections are involved, and a lot of management is involved also.

Having IT is very important, as for if say you have an email account, anyone can send you a malicious email containing a harmful link.

In IT you can actually filter a lot of that out and you can just protect your users in general to make sure their systems don't get hacked.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: One common name for Isaac's job is computer user support specialist.

And in Pennsylvania, computer user support specialists can make an average of $55,450 each year.

And as tech usage continues to climb, job openings for computer user support specialists are growing much faster than average across the state of Pennsylvania and across the entire country.

If you're more interested in becoming an urban or regional planner, you could make an average salary of $73,150 in Pennsylvania.

And while job openings for these types of careers are growing at 2 to 4% annually across most of the country, this career is actually growing by 6% in Pennsylvania.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Within the infrastructure industry, tech is evolving so rapidly that employers have to become more open to paths outside of traditional degrees.

In fact, many IT employers believe that a dedication to lifelong learning can be even more beneficial than a diploma.

>> Isaac: If you have no experience at all and have no knowledge in computers, I would recommend getting your A+ certification as it's pretty much like the industry basic standard as the first one you should get.

>> Christiana: How long is that certification?

>> Isaac: If you really study for maybe, two, three weeks, you could get the certification.

But even if you just have dabbled in IT at home or watched videos, you can get it relatively quickly.

>> Narrator: But for those hoping to pursue Gina's career path, pursuing higher education is typically still recommended.

Most city planners need at least a bachelor's degree to get started.

>> Luis: So what kind of skills would someone need if they were looking to get into something similar to what you're doing?

>> Gina: Some people will get into planning through geography, urban studies, engineering, and then there are different certifications, there's an AICP certification that you don't have to get, but it's a desire to really wanna engage.

You don't have to be necessarily extroverted, but you have to be able to talk with people and just find out what their struggles are, what are their issues that they're dealing with.

So we have to work as a team across departments, across agencies, and that's why I really love planning because every day is different.

You're always working on a new project, there's always a new challenge.

There's always, we're running into this problem, how can we solve it.

>> Jaden: And what advice would you give someone that wants to get into planning?

>> Gina: Well, I'm so impressed with all of you.

You're asking the right questions and you're curious and I think that's the biggest thing for any field is just to be curious.

Ask those why questions and there isn't no one straight career path, and you're gonna find your particular niche and where you feel the most comfortable and the most interested and the most engaged.

And as long as you're growing and learning and being challenged, you're in the right spot.

[LAUGH] >> Christiana: It was really cool to see and talk to an actual planner, especially somebody that's very locally in the area about what type of progress they're making, what the priorities are in the county.

>> Jaden: Yeah, I completely agree.

Stuff like that really does matter and it makes all the difference cuz something as little as the ground that you're walking on can definitely impact how you feel about your surrounding area.

It's just nice to know there's people that are actually looking out for their communities.

>> Christiana: Chile, I haven't been here in years.

>> Jaden: Me either, I saw the Liberty Bell like twice in my life.

>> Christiana: Philadelphia is home to so many different stories throughout history.

I've heard sometimes people call Philadelphia a walking museum.

Sometimes it's okay to be a tourist in your own city.

I feel like at times, you're like, that's corny, but I think it's important sometimes to see what your city has to offer, see why people love your city so much.

>> Jaden: I look like a baby, I look like a baby [LAUGH].

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: For their last few interviews on this journey, the roadtrippers are hoping to get schooled on how local educators are teaching Southeast Pennsylvanians how to achieve their ultimate potential.

>> Christiana: So are y'all excited to talk to Arnold Ford today?

>> Luis: I definitely am, he's a principal, and since I want to go into education, it's gonna be exciting talking to him.

[MUSIC] >> Arnold: Summer in Philly, baby.

>> Jaden: Do not go down the slide if you have shorts on, it burns.

>> Christiana: Oh.

>> Luis: Oh.

That seems like, a you problem.

>> Jaden: Yeah [LAUGH] >> Luis: Not gonna lie.

>> Jaden: Yeah [LAUGH] >> Arnold: I think that we overlook the importance of just playing, even as adults, like just having fun as a part of the experience of learning.

>> Christiana: There's not that many schools in the city that even have a playground.

>> Arnold: I know.

>> Christiana: To begin with, so it's really nice you guys to have this here.

>> Arnold: I know.

>> Christiana: Taking the steps down [LAUGH] >> Arnold: Come on, don't do that.

>> Christiana: Okay.

>> Arnold: You got to get into it.

>> Luis: So do you wanna talk to us a little bit about the school we're in now?

>> Arnold: This is a special place, we are not the traditional charter school.

We're a renaissance charter, so basically, that works just like a neighborhood school, and thing that makes it special is the love that we show to our kids and to their families.

We also have a lot of student entrepreneurs.

We'll have our students lined up in the hallway with tables selling their products.

We got girls that are selling lip gloss.

We got boys that are selling their t-shirts.

They have a fashion brand that they wanna get kicked off, and we encourage that.

There's not a day that goes by where you don't see families that are in this building, in classrooms just like, hey, I wanna spend the day in the classroom, right?

That community feel and those are the things that make Mann special.

>> Danae: I'm Danae Mobley, I'm the CEO of Coded By Kids.

So this is just a little bit of our community wall because there's lots of folks that contribute to Coded by Kids.

You can see some of our instructors, some past interns, our students at their competition.

We really try to make sure that what students are learning is relevant and they understand how technology is applied in the real world.

So Coded By Kids, our job is to make sure that underrepresented people are able to access opportunities in tech.

Whether they wanna get a job as a leader in the tech field, or they wanna start their own startup.

Either way, we wanna make sure that you can access opportunities.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: So if a kid were to come to this kind of program, what could they expect to do on a daily basis?

>> Danae: Man, on a daily basis.

So we work with kids ages 8 to 24 and we're intentional about that because, when you think about sports, right?

I don't know if any of you played sports in high school, but if you were really serious about going to college for a sport, you wouldn't say in 11th grade, I'm about to go pro, right?

You would've started much younger, would've been like an AAU basketball, something like that.

We kinda developed that same pathway for kids, where you could start here and grow.

So as a younger student, you would learn kind of basic skills, HTML, CSS.

Over time, we then actually funnel people into our internship program, and that internship program is for high school and college students that are in the region.

They get five grand for the summer.

They're able to go to companies around the region to really learn what it is to be a technologist and a day in the life of a technologist or a product manager or a UIX designer.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Every month, over 2,500 new education related job opportunities open up in this area of the state.

And in Southeast Pennsylvania the average salary for someone working in education is $78,015.

That includes basically anyone working in a school or school environment.

Encompassing careers like K through 12 teachers, cafeteria workers, and janitorial staff.

CEO salaries can vary widely.

But if you're interested in a career in school administration, you can make an average of $102,700 in Pennsylvania, [MUSIC] >> Narrator: Almost 60% of education careers in Southeast Pennsylvania require you to have a bachelor's degree to get started.

But that said, neither Arnold nor Danae took a super traditional path into their current careers.

>> Danae: What brought me into education was I come from a family of educators, from most of my aunts to my grandmother who worked on the Board of Education.

We've always really felt strongly that education was a core part of your development as a human being.

I got my undergrad in health science.

I did Teach for America, I taught fifth and sixth grade grade ESL.

But the thing that kind of really ties it all together, is that I've always been really interested in the systems that help people reach their potential.

So whether it be through education, whether it be through neighborhoods, and large planning and environment, what that does to people.

Because I wanna know how do people take a thing, whether it be technology, or education, or environment, take that and use that to really fulfill their passion and their potential.

So that's how I got here.

>> Narrator: Danae grew up seeing lots of role models working in education.

But if that's not your personal experience, it certainly doesn't mean this path isn't still wide open for you.

>> Arnold: So growing up, I never saw myself as a teacher.

Most of my teachers were women, to be honest, most of them didn't look like me, so I didn't even think of that as an option.

I graduated from college and I ended up being a writer for an insurance company, but I hated it.

I could not stand going to work, I was making good money out of college, but I just didn't feel like I had any purpose, so I quit.

I didn't have anything else lined up, but I knew I wanted to really chase after something that would make me feel like I had purpose.

So I started doing some odd jobs, ended up working at a summer camp, and through that, I kind of found that I really had this deep passion for impacting young people and the impact that they have on me.

And I went through a teacher certification program, and then when I got my master's, I got my principal certification.

And the rest is history.

>> Christiana: Why do you think it's important to have more Black teachers in education, especially through the K through 12 system, especially in Philadelphia, in particular?

>> Arnold: If you look at the data, Black male educators make up less than 2% of all educators.

>> Christiana: That's crazy.

>> Arnold: That's wild.

>> Christiana: That's wild.

>> Arnold: Right?

So I think the more we can get Black men in this work, the more impact that we can have.

You're gonna remember your teachers.

I'm a grown man, I'm 40.

And I can remember every one of my teachers from when I was in kindergarten.

So for a person to have that much power over the story and the arc of your life, we got to take it seriously.

We got to make it fun because you never know one idle word, one moment can change the whole trajectory of somebody's life.

So that's how I approach this work every day.

>> Luis: Was there ever a kid that really opened your eyes to like why you're doing this work?

>> Danae: We've had students that have built incredible things here.

We have students that have built their own startups.

They're now going to get venture capital from investors.

They're now able to build their own future because now whatever they built, they have equity in.

That's not like I'm going to a job, I'm collecting a paycheck.

That's now generational wealth that you've set up not only for your kids, but your kids' kids.

And that's our end goal, that's what we want to see.

But even if it's not that, it's just kids that at the end of the program, they're like, I didn't think I could build something.

And the smile on their face when they've actually they're showing me the laptop with like, look, this is my website.

That's something that makes me keep wanting to do this job every day.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: All right, Luis, you ready?

>> Luis: I guess.

>> Christiana: All right.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: I think this trip definitely has improved my confidence.

I was scared about even showing up, but I did, and it gave me so many opportunities and so many lifelong friendships.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: And I didn't know that if I pushed myself just a little bit harder, I can be so much better.

And just sometimes all you need is a little push to get started.

And I hope when I'm a teacher, I'm that little push.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: So we have all the quotes from our road trip and with all the people and the amazing leaders that we met, just wanted to see which one of the quotes were your favorites?

>> Jaden: First off, like we did it.

>> Christiana: I know, yeah.

>> Luis: It went by way quicker than I thought.

>> Jaden: I liked Elizabeth's like, just interview and just her quote.

It was, remember to always be yourself and advocate for what you want.

I think sometimes it's a misconception at least that I have where it's like you have to wait till everything is calm to start getting your stuff together.

And a lot of times it's not how life is at all, like you have to decide now, she was dope.

I liked her, [LAUGH] in other words, she was dope.

>> Christiana: She was really dope.

I really enjoyed our interview with Danae.

I thought it was really cool that she never limited herself from being stuck into one path, she took any path or any opportunity that she wanted to take and made it her own.

>> Jaden: Same with Molly, Molly was cool.

Oh my gosh, it was cool to see someone that I could look at her and be I think I'm gonna be just like that when I'm older, just like being yourself and being lively and colorful.

You don't have to kill that to get to where you wanna be.

>> Luis: It has been really fun getting to know the other two roadtrippers.

I thought we were just gonna have a surface-level friendship, but I feel like it's been deeper than that.

It says just try, it's the hard part, Luis.

I felt like this whole trip made me recognize and look at the little things in life.

I lived here for so long that it's just so easy to forget that I live in such an amazing state with so many opportunities.

>> Christiana: Meet new people, get to explore my city.

It kind of gave me a realization that I don't have to follow this type of cookie cutter path.

Sometimes it's okay to just stray away from it and try something new.

It really kinda just lit a fire in me.

>> Jaden: Immaturity becomes childlike wonder as you age, remain spunky.

I think after actually going through this trip, I've kind of learned a lot of things don't go your way, it's a path.

And that's what I've learned from every person on this trip, they made it work no matter the circumstance.

I feel like I've been trying to kind of follow after you in the way that you carry yourself.

And I feel like I hope to be more like you, but you're really cool.

>> Christiana: Aww!

>> Luis: When you walk into a room, you're the kind of person to brighten it up, that's the kind of person you are.

I strive to be like you, I need to be more like you.

>> Jaden: You're gonna make me cry, shut up, shut up, shut up.

Thank you, you're awesome, man.

>> Luis: You guys are awesome, I'm gonna miss you guys.

>> Christiana: I'll miss you too, man.

>> Jaden: I don't even cry for real bro but like, you cool bro, like you cool.

like you cordial, you cordial, but I don't care.

>> Christiana: You cordial [LAUGH] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Wondering what to do with your life?

Well we've been there and we're here to help Our website has some awesome tools to help you find your path And you can check out all our documentaries, interviews and more Start exploring at roadtripnation.com [MUSIC]