Last week, Pennsylvania members attended their Mid-Term training, which was an amazing week long event held at DeSales University, in Center Valley PA.
Pennsylvania Energy Corps partnered with The Sustainable Energy Fund (SEF), who through their gracious partial scholarships, made it possible for 12 members to attend the 6th annual Energy Path conference.
The first three days of the week long event were the “Boot Camp”, where each member choose a field of interest and dove into a intense 3-day session. Choices included Solar PV, Wind, Solar Thermal, Micro-Hydro, Energy Efficiency and Intro to Sustainability.
The presenters in each of these six camps were experts in their fields, and each camp included hands on activities such as putting up a wind turbine, connecting solar panels and performing energy audits.
After 3 days of intense training, the conference started, and included great keynote speakers William Kamkwamba – author of the “The Boy who Harnessed the Wind” and George Assaf – the Director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
When not in session, members relaxed by taking a trip into Philadelphia, playing volleyball or tennis, going on runs and walks around the campus and hula hooping!
Thanks you to SEF and all the members for making it a great week!
Here are some photos and quotes from the members about the training:
King – “This week I saw how widespread our Energy Corps community is. I have read about the different projects people are working on, but hearing about them first hand gave me a better understanding of what everyone is doing. In order for us to progress as a group it is necessary for us to reach out and support each other.”
Kayleigh – “What an awesome week!! I learned so much! Maybe our energy future isn’t completely rosy and there does not seem to be any perfect answers, but I am so thankful that I was able to experience this week with such passionate people conscious of our impact on this planet and looking for concrete solutions.”
Matt – “I had several great conversations this week with those passionate about energy environmental sustainability. It’s a field full of internal, personal contradictions. I’m keenly aware of them, and appreciate the chance to encourage others to see their own, live them, and appreciate the status of our work.”
Zaheen – “I met lots of awesome EnergyCorps people. Hope to continue networking and building relationships.”
Tiffany – “I thoroughly enjoyed midterm training this week! It was a great opportunity to meet and connect with the other PA Energy Corps members and to learn valuable information related to my field that I can easily incorporate into my work at CEO. I hope to eventually get into sustainable urban development so it was great to learn more about new ideas and technologies leading in that direction. My favorite classes were aquaponics and landfill energy use.”
