Left to right: FortisTCI President & CEO Ruth Forbes, Deputy Premier E.J. Saunders, Interns Raymond Kendall, Kenyatta Rigby, Michael Saunders, Derliser Youth, Caitlin Lewis, Eryn Quelch, Ushannia Hardware, Trevante Brown, Rhakeem Lightbourne, Moderator Samuel Dormeus, and H.E. The Governor Nigel Dakin.
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (Thursday, August 19, 2021) – FortisTCI President and CEO Ruth Forbes announced that the company will commence a one-year internship program for college graduates in 2022. The program will afford three college graduates who studied in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, experience and exposure working in the energy sector.
Mrs. Forbes made the announcement at the company’s first Youth Energy Roundtable, held at its headquarters on Thursday, August 12. The event was created to provide the Turks and Caicos Islands youth an opportunity to share in the conversation about their energy future. On this first occasion, college students who interned at FortisTCI tackled topics that included renewable energy generation, battery storage, the electrification of transportation, enabling regulations, and much more.
Of the ten 2021 summer interns working in varying capacities between July and August, five were featured on the panel alongside FortisTCI subject matter experts, all of whom helped mentor the students during their work-study program. The other five interns listened as audience members with the Governor, the Premier, the Deputy Premier, and FortisTCI Executive team. Samuel Dormeus led the thought-provoking conversation, which was also live-streamed for public viewing.
The student panelists at the roundtable were Ushannia Hardware, Eryn Quelch, Caitlin Lewis, Kenyatta Rigby and Michael Saunders. FortisTCI subject matters experts Senior Vice President of Operations Devon Cox, Vice President of Innovation, Technology and Strategic Planning Rachel Roullet, Director of Legal Services Alexandria Missick, Manager of Information and Communications Technology Jerry Clerveaux, and Resource Planning & Utility Analytics Officer TeAnn Thomas supported the discussion.
Contributing to the event through their research, the other interns were Derliser Youth, Rhakeem Lightbourne, Raymond Kendall, Jamieson Simmons, and Trevante Brown. Their research topics covered utility regulations and financial sustainability, renewable energy and storage, the electrification of transportation, the TCI Resilient National Energy Transition Strategy, and the 3Ds – Decarbonization, Decentralization and Digitization.
FortisTCI President and CEO Ruth Forbes speaking about the event, said, "The energy sector is transitioning to more sustainable solutions, and there is an urgency to create an enabling environment in the Turks and Caicos to support the transition, and implement the measures necessary to meet the energy needs of the future. Energy is an economic builder and driver, and as such requires critical attention, action and investment for a more sustainable future; this includes preparing our young people to help lead these changes."
"I am pleased to introduce this new internship initiative for college graduates as our commitment to preparing our future generations.” Mrs. Forbes added, "The entire FortisTCI team is extremely proud and very impressed with this year's interns and their contributions to a complex conversation. There is no doubt that their internship experience will help shape their futures in positives ways."
A recording of the FortisTCI Youth Energy Roundtable is currently available online via the FortisTCI Facebook and YouTube pages.
