Third cohort of Radiant Rays get scholarships, accolades

Details: Lance Martin; News; 02 August 2024; 2049

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The third cohort of the Center for Energy Education’s Radiant Rays took center stage Thursday as they discussed their experiences, shared their projects and accepted $1,500 scholarships.

The eleven students from across the Roanoke Valley serve as interns in the center’s Empowering Young Women in Solar initiative.

“I have a dream that these young ladies who have gone through a tremendous five weeks of educational opportunities of being CEOs, that they will become leaders,” said C4EE Executive Director Mozine Lowe at the program’s end.

She said her dream is that they will come back to the community and to be leaders at C4EE, leaders at Dominion Energy, or the chamber of commerce and many other opportunities. “ … They might start their own companies, that they might be grant writers or that these young ladies will become leaders and have an impact on the communities that they left. I definitely agree that in rural communities there’s a different dynamic. We have many challenges, but you all are so informed and you’re a part of this community and you could come back and make a big difference.”

Said Lowe: “It is my dream that you all go to college and fulfill your dreams so that you can give your talents. The information that you’ve gained here over the past five weeks exceeds many, many, many individuals. You’ve got it already. You have the basics. So it is my dream that you all come back and serve.”

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Profiles

Before the start of the program, each of the students shared some of their experiences throughout their internship.

Jakaylah Powell, of Halifax County Early College, said, “We learned about renewable energy. We learned about ways to help climate change and we learned about the Underground Railroad, we’ve been on trips. It’s been a very good experience.”

Powell said her biggest highlight was the different workshops and learning more about renewable energy “and how we can be advocates for renewable energy.”

Kaziah Vick, of Roanoke Rapids High School, said, “We’ve learned about renewable energy, solar energy and the different types of energy there is, as well as getting to meet big people like in boardrooms and getting to know everyone and letting everyone see us.”

One of Vick’s highlights was meeting Congressman Don Davis.

Akiyah Tillery, a Halifax County Early College student, said, “We met Don Davis and his words of wisdom was we need you to pass on the lessons you’ve learned and open up new opportunities.”

Tillery said her biggest takeaway from the experience was it made her rethink what she wanted to major in. “I need to help the earth, I need to help our environment because if I want a future for future generations and my generation, I need to be there so I make everything better, that I can help the earth get better and a better life for the future.”

Zakia Tilllery, of the county early college, said, “The Radiant Rays internship has been a great experience. We’ve been on a lot of trips, we had a lot of workshops, we learned from a lot of people, and we met some pretty big people in the clean energy industry.”

Zakia said one of her favorite parts of the experience was the D.C. trip. “We went to the African American Museum. We saw a lot of things. We learned a lot of things that I never knew.”

She also mentioned the visit with Davis. “He talked about how he loved the Radiant Rays and all that we stand for, which is a very encouraging thing. Receiving the scholarship is a great thing because we spent almost a month, or a month-and-a-half here. We worked hard to get to this point. I’m just proud.”

Kayla Clark, of Southeast Collegiate Preparatory Academy, said, “What I learned from the internship was how to make our world a better place.”

Clark said she enjoyed the D.C. trip and visiting the capitol.

She said Davis told the students that just because they are young doesn’t mean they can’t show the world different things about their potential.

Taniyah Edmonds, of RRHS, said, “My highlight was the different careers like clean jobs. I was unaware of many of those. We’ve been meeting people from all around. I found that very interesting because I never knew about these types of jobs. It’s like an eye-opener because that’s something I could possibly be interested in.”

Kayla Whitfield, an RRHS graduate who is attending North Carolina Central University, said, “I learned a lot and I got to go to a lot of different places and meet new people.”

Her biggest takeaway was knowing there are opportunities. “Knowing people can get you places and get you new job opportunities so it was good to talk to people and get yourself out there.”

Natahlya Debro, of Roanoke Valley Early College, said, “I would say my biggest takeaway from this internship is we learned many different ways of how to save our communities. We learned about climate change and more about renewable energy.”

Her favorite part was time at Elizabeth City State University and being in a college atmosphere. “I’ve always wanted to be a college student.”

Jamiya Velasquez, a student at Southeast Prep, said, “I took a lot from this experience. It was definitely an eye-opener. I learned the benefits of green jobs and how we could interact with our community.”

Velasquez was also impressed with meeting Davis. “He comes from where we come from. He just told us to keep going. Just because we’re in a little area doesn’t mean you can’t come back and help your community. Overall, the experience was great. I would do it again.”

Velasquez said of Davis, “It was great meeting him, a Black man, and being from where we’re from, it was great to know we could get up there like him.”

Giselle Garcia, a Halifax County Early College student, said, “Throughout this internship I’ve learned a lot of stuff about the clean energy industry and why it’s important to advocate to make our world cleaner and why it’s important to start using green technology.”

Gracia said, “I had the chance to meet a lot of new people and network with them to form connections because maybe one day I want to get a job in clean industry. They might recognize me for being an intern for the Radiant Rays. That opens up doors to me.”

She said the experience has given her many strong memories to think about as she grows older “and advocate for a better world. Meeting new people, I learned that people come from different backgrounds, having different majors. That shows when I grow older and have a different major I can still advocate for a cleaner earth and continue educating myself about it.”

Discia Ashe, also of the county’s early college, said, “I learned a lot from the internship. I learned more about renewable energy resources and renewable energy jobs. It’s something I would definitely do again.”

The week at Elizabeth City was one of her favorite parts of the experience. “We worked on wind turbines and we got to test our speed and how much energy we were making off our wind turbine. Spending a week at a college was really neat because I graduate next year. It gave us a good college experience.”

Keynote remarks

Keynote speaker Allison Matthews, executive grant writer with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, told the Rays, “There are a lot of jobs that are coming. There are a lot of career opportunities that are coming actually straight out of high school, moving right on through business ownership.”

She said the commitment is the beginning stages “of us trying to address these historic, systemic inequalities that have been keeping resources out of Black and brown communities for the last hundred or more years.”

In giving a nod to Warren County’s legacy of the birthplace of the environmental justice movement in the state, Matthews told the cohort, “That legacy lives today and it lives for you all. Hopefully you are using that legacy as well to empower you that your voice and your experiences are valuable and they’re powerful. They also shape the way the future of the state of North Carolina can have an impact in your community.”

TAGS: halifaxcountynews, roanokerapidsnews, centerforenergyeducation, radiantrays

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