The following story appears in the Fall 2010 Piedmont View

This summer, in the fourth year of the PEC Fellowship Program, twelve bright, energetic college and graduate students spent seven weeks with us learning about a wide range of environmental issues.  The PEC Fellowship Program offers a unique and increasingly sought after, hands-on experience for students interested in environmental careers. 

This year’s fellows wrapped up the program with a collection of top-notch practicum projects that help PEC—from a series of interviews with farmers on their experience with cost-share programs to analysis of state policy on solar energy to exploring on the potential impact of commuter rail through southern Fauquier, among other topics.  Here's what they say about their experience.

What was the major takeaway for you from the Fellowship Program?

Paul: “I never really thought about doing anything with the government—state governments, local governments, federal government.  But after doing the mock Board of Supervisors presentation and the mock Virginia Assembly meeting, I found out that I actually want to influence the government.  I want to let my voice be heard.” 

Anna: “It’s been refreshing to be at PEC and see a nonprofit that’s effective and gets things done and I’ve been really impressed by that, and it’s reinvigorated my interest in working in the nonprofit sector.”

Ronnie: “I discovered urban planning [in college] and the whole time I was doing it I thought, am I ever going to get a job? Is this even practical or is this information just to know stuff? But through this program I’ve really seen how practical it can be and it’s made me more confident that I want to go to grad school in urban planning.”

Ariel: “In classes, you get a lot of idealism or one-sidedness about things, but in truth, everything is really complex and there’s a lot of sides to everything.   PEC has helped me look at those different sides and analyze the problem from all angles.  It’s helped me to think  outside the box.”

This summer you’ve been immersed in PEC themes of taking action effectively, getting things done.  But, if you look at environmental issues from a zoomed out perspective, you might see this as the summer of immobility.  The entire time you were here, an oil well was gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.  Also this summer, Congress decided not to take action on energy and climate change.  How do you reconcile this sense of potential with what seems like paralysis on a larger scale? 

Stephanie:  “I remember when we did the policy stuff, and they said it’s more important to do things at the state and local level than the national level, and at first I was like, well, maybe.  National politics is so cool and exciting.  But after going to Richmond and doing our mock Board of Supervisors meeting, I realized  that fighting the local fights and implementing state policy that actually affects your community is way more tangible and effective.  You actually get things done as opposed to the gutted energy bill that isn’t going to happen in the Senate right now. “

Drew:  “Something like the Gulf oil spill is the result of the system or the society in which we live and that that actually doesn’t change at a national level, so much as change at a local level.  So, if change is being made by organizations like PEC at a local level, those have a ripple effect into a national arena.  We could work toward the equivalent of preventative medicine on the national scale if we craft knowledgeable, happy, sustainable local societies.”

To see more photos from the 2010 PEC Fellowship, check out our PEC Fellows Flickr Collection. If you're a former PEC Fellow, be sure to join our PEC Fellows Flickr group.

Read more from the Fall 2010 Piedmont View