OPALCO Provides Opportunities for Local Youth

Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) has four youth working in the Eastsound office as interns this summer and sent three youth to the Cooperative Youth Rally leadership camp at the College of Idaho in July. Youth internships have been a long tradition at OPALCO and the Nourdine Jensen Cooperative Youth Scholarship Program is in its first year.

Lindsay Anderson, Morgan Borman and Bobbi Lowry, OPALCO Summer Interns

Alan Smith started his internship with OPALCO in 2003 between his junior and senior years at Orcas Island High School. “I started in computer -aided design (CAD) for mapping,” explained Smith.  “Terry Turner taught me what I needed to know – and OPALCO’s provided significant training as I’ve come along.” Alan is now in his eighth year at OPALCO – the last five as a full-time permanent employee in the engineering department with the title of GIS Technician. The youth internships are not always available, but are project based and opened as needed each year. Outreach is usually through the high schools: Morgan Borman saw a poster at his school and Bobbi Lowry heard about the internship opportunity from her teacher.

Morgan is in his second year as a “GIS Assistant” working on mapping projects with Alan. He is a student at Western Washington University (WWU) studying Software Engineering. “The OPALCO experience has taught me a lot about problem solving – particularly about how people interact with software in a real work environment.” Will Eagan is OPALCO’s newest intern in CAD mapping. Also a student at WWU, Will is working on diagramming OPALCO’s switching equipment this summer.

Bobbi Lowry and Lindsay Anderson both began internships last summer – Bobbi in Accounting and Lindsay in Member Services. “I’ve done a wide variety of projects,” said Lowry. “Everything from data entry to documenting the Co-op’s assets through a review of historical files all the way back to 1946.” When asked what she will take away into her college career and beyond, she says she appreciates the mentorship she’s received from OPALCO staff and her new working knowledge of Excel. Bobbi is in her second year at Southwestern University in Texas studying Spanish and Communications. Lindsay, about to begin her studies in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Miami, served OPALCO members at the front counter, solved problems with members’ accounts and processed payments. She also took on a variety of other tasks such as proofreading copy and creating a photo archive for OPALCO on Flickr.

At OPALCO’s Crew Station on Lopez, a number of youth have participated in an independent study in partnership with the high school to learn the basics of a journeyman lineman. Trevor Steinbrueck, Kevin Dengler and Alex Zoerb all took advantage of this opportunity. Steinbrueck has completed his training at the Northwest Lineman School and is working through his apprenticeship as a lineman for the City of Sumas, WA.

Three Amigos-- Sam Swanson, Susanne Mietzner and Connar Smith at the Youth Rally at the College of Idaho

The three students selected as OPALCO’s first Nourdine Jensen Cooperative Youth (NJCY) Scholarship award winners: Susanne Mietzner (Orcas), Sam Swanson (Lopez) and Connar Smith (San Juan) have just returned from the Youth Rally, a week-long leadership camp at the College of Idaho, where they each took home top honors and additional scholarship dollars from the Idaho Consumer-Owned Utility Association.

“This was a valuable experience for our students,” said NJCY Scholarship Program Coordinator and Youth Rally Chaperone Suzanne Olson. “The students not only learned a lot about the electrical utility world, but got hands on and took leadership roles in building a grass-roots action group, forming their own co-op and testing it against realistic scenarios – in balance with a lot of fun social networking with about 70 peers from rural electric co-ops representing Alaska, Oregon, Wyoming and Idaho.” Olson added, “OPALCO’s students were stellar citizens and ambassadors for the Co-op; we were the only co-op to take home a scholarship award for each student who participated. In addition, Connar was voted by his peers to come back in 2012 to plan and direct the Rally as a Youth Director.”

The Nourdine Jensen Cooperative Youth Scholarship Program is open to sophomores and juniors of OPALCO member households and includes a $500 OPALCO scholarship award, an all-expenses paid trip to the Youth Rally in Idaho and the chance to compete for additional scholarship awards at the Rally. More information is available online at www.opalco.com and applications are accepted beginning in January.

OPALCO is a member-owned cooperative electrical utility serving more than 11,000 members on 20 islands in San Juan County.  OPALCO provides electricity that is 95% greenhouse-gas free and is predominately generated by hydro-electric plants. OPALCO was founded in 1937 to bring electricity to rural islanders.