Interns Help CUB While They Learn

For the last 15 years or so, CUB has had an active internship program where students gain experience working in an advocacy setting on real energy policy issues. They research issues, write articles, and attend internal and inter-organizational meetings. Most of CUB’s interns participate in the Eric Shaich Memorial Fund Internship Program. The principle of the fund was donated by the family of Eric Shaich, an early volunteer with the CUB campaign in 1984 and eventual energy professional. Thanks to the Shaich Fund, CUB is able to pay its interns for up to 200 hours of work over the course of a term or semester, which supports 1-2 interns per year working 10-15 hours per week.

For stories about CUB’s past Shaich interns, the projects they worked on and where they went after their time at CUB, see our Dec. 2008 “Meet CUB’s Shaich Interns” blog post. CUB has had three student interns this year, and we thought it was time to highlight some of their work. CUB members can also read more about Sakae Sakai and Amani Smathers in the hard copy of the upcoming Bear Facts newsletter.

Ian Shellady, Shaich Intern, spring 2009. Ian was attracted to CUB because of our work on clean energy issues and worked for CUB during his last semester at the University of Portland. Ian spent a lot of his term doing research for various dockets and on issues CUB was working on in the legislature. “It’s amazing how many interests are at stake in any given issue,” Ian reflected at the end of his internship. He described CUB’s position well: “CUB is really in the middle of it, always protecting ratepayers but also trying to balance that wide range of interests.” Ian also worked in support of the Healthy Climate Partnership, a statewide collaboration of public interest organizations and progressive businesses founded to build grassroots support around climate issues, a formal collaboration CUB helped to found.

After graduating in May 2009, Ian left for a job teaching in Korea. He said he wanted to see some of the world before deciding to go back to school or going forward on his career path.

Sakae Sakai, Law Clerk, summer-fall 2009. In addition to the Shaich internship program, CUB developed a clerkship program for legal students this year, and was incredibly happy with Sakae as the first participant. His jobs included conducting legal research, drafting pleadings for reviews, preparing filings, and attending hearings. Sakae called his opportunity to learn about utilities regulation from both economic and legal experts, attend administrative hearings before the Oregon Public Utilities Commission, and contribute to on-going rate cases “an invaluable experience.” “Clerking with CUB has been great,” Sakae said, “and the mentoring aspect of the organization merits it as a clerking experience any law student interested in a career in energy law should consider.”

Sakae’s work and value as an extra pair of ears in hearings was a great boon to CUB’s staff attorney, Catriona McCracken. CUB looks forward to Sakae returning in the fall to help with legal research part time.

Amani Smathers, Intern, summer 2009. This summer, for only the second time in our internship history, CUB has had a nearly full-time summer intern. Amani Smathers, a Tufts University student who will return for her senior year this fall, started with CUB in mid-June and got to participate in the last couple hectic weeks of Oregon’s legislative session. Since the end of the session, Amani has taken on a number of writing and research projects, which covered a number of issues from energy efficiency to telecommunications consumer information services. Other projects included getting CUB’s blog and online newsletter back on a more regular schedule and “miscellaneous intern tasks,” as Amani puts it. “But the great thing about interning for CUB is that that last category of tasks is relatively minute,” she says. “Unlike cohorts who are fetching coffee and limited to making copies and sorting files, CUB gives me the opportunity to contribute to the organization while also growing my own knowledge and skills.” Amani left last week to spend a little time with her family in Ohio before heading back to Tufts.

Thanks Ian, Sakae and Amani for all your work this year!

Every internship is different, and successful ones are based on a synthesis of CUB’s current needs and projects and the skills and interest of the intern. CUB has a small but busy staff, and the Shaich Internship Program allows CUB to employ students who help staff accomplish its workload efficiently and contribute fresh ideas. CUB appreciates all of its student interns, and in turn the internship program usually gets excellent feedback from participants. Interns appreciate the experiences and connections within the energy policy and non-profit community they gain, which are important as they continue along their own career paths.

If you are interested in joining CUB as an intern or law clerk, or know someone who might be, contact CUB Business Director SA Anders. Similarly, if you know a student who might be interested, feel free to let them know about this opportunity.

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