Green Tech Institute
About
Our Green Tech Institute is a program where high schoolers get paid to learn about STEM from an Indigenous perspective. The internships provide Native youth hands-on experience in the renewable and green energy fields. Whether that’s bike building, learning about hydroelectricity, or creating solar powered phone chargers and libraries, our interns are providing sustainable solutions for a greener future.
We're always learning things — from harnessing the sun's power to charge your phone to understanding how heat and electricity is being used in your own home! Upon learning these skills, we make sure to then use them to benefit our community through partner organizations.
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Cohorts
First Person Productions has four cohorts per year - three during the school year and one during the summer. Each cohort lasts approximately 8 -10 weeks and meets Monday - Thursday from 4-6PM or 9:30AM - 3:30PM in the summer. Interns receive an hourly rate of $13.75 and must be 14 years or older to be eligible.
Spring 2025 Cohort
Begins March 24 \ Ends May 22
Meet Your Instructor
Antavia descends from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and grew up in South Minneapolis. She attended South High School and earned her associates degree at Minneapolis College as a Power of You scholar. She continued her studies in chemistry at Metro State University as an Increasing Diversity in Environmental Careers Fellow, as well as abroad in Cuernavaca, Mexico as a Gilman International Scholar. Antavia has been a PhD student of chemistry at the University of Minnesota where she helped teach undergraduate analytical chemistry labs and spent time researching and synthesizing porous nanoparticles for PFAS phytoremediation as a 3M Science and Technology Fellow.​
“Growing up I rarely, if ever, saw myself represented in STEM as a low-income Indigenous girl. Being raised by a single parent on welfare, and then being a single mother myself while studying chemistry, I have spent my life navigating barriers on behalf of myself and others in the pursuit of knowledge and stability. While the barriers we all face as individuals do not have to define us, they alter how our goals and needs can be met. As an Indigenous woman and scientist, I look forward to the opportunity to be apart of the circle of support MIGIZI offers youth to help them navigate their goals and dreams according to their specific needs.”