The largest high school in Massachusetts, Brockton High School, offers several certified career technical education programs to its 3,500 students. These include carpentry, health assisting, culinary arts, and graphic communications. There’s also an automotive program with about 65 students currently enrolled, but it has no electric vehicle component.
Until now.
In an effort to keep his students “a step ahead of the competition,” Principal Kevin McCaskill recently applied for and received a whopping $900,000 in grants from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to develop an EV training program. “We thought it would be ideal for our students—90% are students of color and 65% Black and Brown—to have this opportunity to really look at these emerging technologies. Lo and behold we got the grant. It’s huge,” he says, beaming.
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Prepping students for a booming job market
The program, established in collaboration with the nonprofit Project Green Schools, will be housed in a new Clean Automotive Technology Center of Excellence (CATCE). It will provide students with unique hands-on experience in EV and clean transportation technologies, electric bus technologies, and sustainable transportation. The new building should be completed before the end of 2026, and teachers—all enthusiastic, says Principal McCaskill—are already being trained in anticipation. “We really want to grow programs in order for students to be prepared to compete for careers in all the fields that we represent,” says Principal McCaskill.
EV training will be unique in that it’s cutting edge and skilled technicians are in high demand in a growing job market. The automotive workforce has been undergoing the most significant transition in 100 years: the shift from internal combustion engines to electric, hybrid, and alternative-fuel vehicles represents a transformation on the scale of the Industrial Revolution. Though there have recently been considerable EV setbacks federally under the Trump administration, many states still have climate commitments—and not just Massachusetts. EV production and sales may slow down because of setbacks, but the cat is out of the bag. They aren’t going away. These vehicles require workers with new skill sets, people who know about things like battery diagnostics, high-voltage safety, software calibration, charging infrastructure, and so much more.
Brockton’s automotive students will be poised to fill these roles. “Employers across Massachusetts and the country are urgently seeking technicians who can keep pace with rapidly changing technologies,” says Robin Sidman, Executive Director of Project Green Schools, noting that municipalities, transit agencies, delivery companies, and private fleets continue to electrify faster than the workforce can support.
The program will include mentorship opportunities, industry partnerships, and projects that directly engage Brockton students with real-world applications. It will also train students working in the electrical field, teaching them about building and servicing the EV charging stations currently cropping up across the state—and the country. “A program like this ensures students graduate into high-demand, high-wage jobs with long-term career stability,” says Robin.
Working relationship, great opportunity
Principal McCaskill was “ecstatic” to be awarded the grants and says he would not have known about the opportunity if not for Robin. The two first met back when he was executive director at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston. They’ve kept in touch since and have collaborated before on other green initiatives at Brockton High School. “Robin is fantastic,” he says.
The feeling is mutual. “Kevin is an absolute rock star! His positive energy and dynamic leadership style is contagious,” says Robin, who is on a mission to find ways to create healthier schools and communities. She has been specifically seeking paths to engage schools in grant and clean school bus opportunities after attending events in Washington, DC, related to the U.S. EPA’s Clean School Bus Program.
The Brockton High School idea grew out of a conversation she had with a leader in the clean school bus space: “We spoke about how EVs are a way to a healthy future for schools and communities, and we were perplexed that with all of the efforts around EVs and charging stations, no one was developing the next generation of EV technicians,” she recalls
A light bulb went off when Robin caught wind of available funding to do just that. Technically, it’s two grants together—$650,000 to build the school and $250,000 for clean automotive training and placing students in internships. She knew just the high school for the program, reaching out to Principal McCaskill to see if he would partner on it.
He was immediately enthusiastic. “And we thought, Let’s do this! Brockton is a high-need green school, and the energy of their school was a perfect fit to greenovate! We applied and were awarded. We are eager to develop curriculum and train our first cohort,” she says.
Being part of the solution
EV automotive programs do more than just set students up for in-demand jobs; they set them up for purpose-driven work. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Working on EVs means being part of a real climate solution: reducing emissions, improving air quality, and supporting environmental justice goals as well as state climate mandates.
There are seven middle schools that can potentially feed into Brockton High School, and Principal McCaskill says this clean automotive program is motivating students to choose it over other local schools. Today’s students want to be part of the solution, part of the future of transportation. “This is one of the sells for prospective students in the eighth grade,” he says.
Especially now, as Brockton High School leads the way. It’s only a matter of time before more schools in Massachusetts and across the country upgrade their programs similarly and join the EV revolution.
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