An energy company shows students the path to prosperity
Mentorship Academy featured in the Washington Examiner
March 7, 2022
CANONSBURG, Pa. — Zion Buford has seen up close more people working with their hands in the trades in the past few months than most adults ever come in contact with in their lifetime. From carpenters to electricians to plumbers to heating and air conditioner installers, if their job makes your day better, faster, warmer, cooler, safer, or run on time, she has seen them in action.
Buford, a 17-year-old senior at Moon Area High School, said her favorites are the welders “because one of the ladies at the trade school built her own fireplaces — she was a real artist with her craft — which was something I really appreciated."
“My eyes have also really been opened," said Buford, "to all of the opportunities there are out there to walk out of high school or a trade school with little to no debt and be able to get a job where [I] could comfortably support myself.”
Buford — along with 11 other students in Western Pennsylvania, six from a rural high school and six from an urban high school — has had this exposure thanks to a foundation started by CNX Resources Corporation. CNX, one of the largest independent natural gas exploration and shale production companies, quietly began a mentoring academy at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year for disadvantaged young people to help them fully realize their potential and see the chance for upward mobility to which they never knew they had access.
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