MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The future is green at Georgia College and State University.
A new course that starts in January won't cost any green to take, but it aims to help you make some.
“Teaching people how to design and install solar panels as well as how to engage in entrepreneurship in the green energy industry,” Nicholas Creel explained.
The idea for the solar energy class began when Associate Professor of Physics Hasitha Mahabaduge approached Assistant Professor of Business Law Creel.
“Just teaching them the science only would not help them move forward,” Mahabaduge said. “We don’t have the skills to market ourselves. So, when we come together, I think that synergy works well for us and for the rest of the community as well.”
So, Creel says they applied for a grant and got $100,000 from the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation to create a class to teach both for free.
“We really wanted to start finding ways to make a direct, important impact on the community,” Creel said.
How will the class do that? For one, they say it's just good for the earth.
“The world is trying to get rid of coal. Whether we like it or not, it’s something that we can live without. We need to prepare what would replace coal,” Mahabaduge explained.
“It just helps cut down on carbon footprints,” Creel added.
However, solar and renewable energy is one of the nation's fastest-growing industries, too.
“This is where a lot of the jobs are,” Creel said. “Here in Georgia, we’re in what’s known now as the ‘battery belt’, where the production of a lot of solar panels is just taking off. There’s a lot more money getting poured into this. We’re, kind of, setting up a workforce development program that’s really going to be helping serve those people well by landing them a job day one of graduating this course.”
Why is the course free and available for everyone to take? Creel says it's to give everyone a chance.
“Rural Georgia has been hard hit in the last 30 years by a lot of off-shoring manufacturing jobs. Good paying jobs. They could probably land a much higher-paying job if they had the right training,” he explained. “Training is really expensive and they’re in a position where they can’t afford that. So, we really want to give them an opportunity to go ahead and better their lot in life without having to shell out a mortgage payment.”
If you think you need a science degree to take the class, Mahabaduge says you definitely don't.
“Anybody can learn this, you just need to be able to read and write,” he said. “To meet them where they are and then start from the very basics."
You'll learn what a solar cell is, look at the research, and learn how to create a business for it.
Junior Aden Godwin says he wants to get in on the knowledge.
“It's a change that’s inevitable. So, we might as well get prepared for the future now,” he said.
Godwin says he likes that anyone can take the class.
“It brings joy to me that they're giving back to their local community,” Godwin said.
It’s also giving back to the earth.
“If we all work together and all spread this knowledge, it's a win-win situation. If you can earn money while saving the world, think that's the best thing that we can do,” Mahabaduge said.
Classes begin in January and will end in June.
As part of the last class project, students will be paid to install solar panels at a Milledgeville city building.
Creel says only 40 students will be accepted spread across four cohorts and classes are filling up fast.
If you're interested in joining the course, you can either call (478) 445-5277 or email the Office of Continuing Education at continuingeducation@gcsu.edu.