Young Energy Voices Blog
By Olivia Reshetylo
Our 5th International Student Energy Summit happened last month in Mexico, bringing together delegates from across the globe to innovate on our world’s energy issues. On this episode of Energy Voices, our host, Meredith Adler interviews three of our amazing delegates and dives into the post summit movements happening in their local communities.
First, Meredith checked in with Natalia Pulido from Monterey, Mexico. Natalia is a student studying Sustainable Development Engineering. She is interested in renewable energy and the direct correlation between energy growth and the economy.
She came to SES with the goal of wanting to meet people who will inspire her entrepreneurial spirit and continue to build upon her global network of industry leaders and aspiring changemakers.
Natalia moved her entrepreneurial mindset into action when she pitched her idea during the Summit’s Innovation Jam. Energia Latinoamericana(ENERLAM), was born, with a mission to create a dialogue between representative members of Latin American countries. The goal is to increase sustainable energy initiatives and energy knowledge across Latin America, well addressing the energy poverty issues that exist in these countries. They hope to create a database of energy information to encourage collaboration and sustainable energy knowledge across Latin America.
The group was a huge success, drawing over 80 students at the summit to the table to discuss the potential of ENERLAM (the largest innovation jam group in SE history!) with meetings continuing post summit and over 425 active members to date. We are excited to see what is to come from ENERLAM.
Next up, Meredith spoke with Churchill Agutu, from Pretoria. A Chemical Engineering student with a focus in solar energy development, Churchill is challenging the traditional mindset of who can engage in the energy conversation and wants to encourage those from different educational backgrounds to leverage their skills to create a conversation around energy.
Churchill went to the summit with a similar vision to Natalia. However, he hoped that the summit would provide him with the insight of where he can be most effective in instigating change within the energy industry.
Finally, Meredith checked in with Vancouver, Canada resident Braeden Peterson, a business student at Simon Fraser University with a focused degree in marketing and entrepreneurship. Braeden caught interest in energy issues during an entrepreneurship project he was working on at school. His entrepreneurial spirit quickly recognized the huge opportunity that exists within the energy industry for disruption and innovation.
Braeden found the Summit the perfect place to further his knowledge of the energy industry, especially on a global scale. He loved meeting people from around the world with different backgrounds but who shared the common goal of improving our current energy system.
Braeden also took part in our Community Contribution Program that took place after our Summit. Braeden found this experience to be quite profound, and he felt it gave him a real understanding of how energy system improvements can impact people’s lives.
Braeden feels the Summit opened his eyes to how he can leverage his existing networks, with his own nonprofit to start tackling energy issues in his community.
Overall, this episode just solidified that amazing work that has continued post summit. We couldn’t be more proud of our delegates and the work they are doing in their communities. We can’t wait to see what’s next!