My name is Kimberly Colgan and last year I was on St. Cloud Apollo High School’s Youth Energy Summit (YES!) team. I am currently a student at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois studying Industrial Engineering. Last summer, I worked at Star Lake Wilderness Camp as a Woods Counselor. While there, I taught basic wilderness and canoe skills as well as nature appreciation to groups of kids ages 7-17. This January, I am an intern at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. I work at the Rapids Lake Education and Visitor Center as an Environmental Education Intern. With this position I help with the setup of exhibits and classrooms on the refuge, as well as go into classrooms with the Refuge staff and help teach students about the environment while incorporating math and writing in the lessons. I love what I am doing now, and I wouldn’t have gotten any of those jobs without the experiences that YES! gave me. Through YES!, I made many connections with people who are passionate about the environment. One of the reasons that the refuge hired me was because they are looking to put in a hydration station, and they saw on my resume that through my involvement Youth Energy Summit, I had already put 3 hydration stations in at my high school, so I could help connect them with companies that could help them install one. Whenever I am in an interview, people always ask about YES! I couldn’t be more thankful for my involvement; it taught me so much!
