Name: Rina Patel
Class Year: 2018
Major: Growth and Structure of Cities
Hometown: Buffalo Grove , Ill.

Internship Placement: Energy Vision
Job Title: Summer Associate
Location: New York City

What’s happening at your internship?

Energy Vision is such a fun place to work at! I’ve been working on a few different projects. Earlier in the summer I was helping EV out on a project they’ve partnered with the U.S Department of Energy on compiling information about Renewable Natural Gas initiatives across the country. I’ve been doing a lot of projects around outreach and civic engagement, I’ve been in touch with officials across NYC’s boroughs advocating for Renewable Natural Gas and its benefits to the NYC community, and I’ve been identifying potential partnerships with grassroots organizations.

Catherine Rowen 2018 and I representing EV!

We’ve also just had lots of fun representing Energy Vvision at various events across the city. One that I enjoyed the most was New York City’s Food Waste fair where we were able to connect with NYC Sustainability Director Mark Chambers.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I’m a Cities major and Environmental Studies minor, so Energy Vision seemed like the perfect opportunity to apply my two passions: combining renewable energy policy and research and the viability in urban spaces. There was also the added excitement of exploring and analyzing renewable energy options in New York City, the best place for any Cities major!

Was there anything special you found about this internship?

Something very special has been working with BMC alumna Joanna Underwood. She’s been such a delight. Joanna had so many fond memories and stories form her time at Bryn Mawr. She also shared stories from her mother, who was in Katherine Hepburn’s class!

It was so moving to see this awesome Mawrter running and managing her own nonprofit and care so much about her work. She’s so passionate about protecting the planet form climate change. I loved working closely with her and hearing her experiences made me appreciate the value of the Bryn Mawr community. Very rarely are we able to connect with other people so deeply in such a short amount of time. Having both Bryn Mawr and our passion for the environment bring us together is truly incredible.

Living in a new city? What has that experience been like for you?

It became obvious to me why New York City is called the greatest city on Earth! Not sure if I 100% agree with that characterization yet, but I had so much fun exploring New York. There was never a shortage of things to do. I made many new friends in addition to reconnecting with friends from Bryn Mawr, high school, study abroad, and even past internships in different cities. NYC is really where people from all walks of life come together. Living on my own in Brooklyn was such a blast and I’m so much more willing to move to new places and cities because of this experience!