Posted on August 2, 2019

El Paso Electric Celebrates Summer Interns for Their Efforts

El Paso Electric Celebrates Summer Interns for Their Efforts

El Paso Electric Celebrates Summer Interns for Their Efforts

Farewell reception held for college and high school interns

El Paso, TEXAS – For a large majority of teenagers who are currently attending school, summer is primetime for ‘R & R’ – rest and relaxation before heading back to school this fall; however, for 18 young adults, this summer was extra special as they made up El Paso Electric’s (EPE) 2019 Summer Internship Program cohort. At a reception held earlier today, Friday, August 2, at the Utility’s headquarters in Downtown El Paso, EPE employees along with friends and family of this year’s high school and college interns celebrated the completion of the 7th year of the program and all of their accomplishments.

“My internship with El Paso Electric has taught me more than I could have imagined,” reflects Katya Marquez, 2019 EPE summer college intern. “This experience is preparing me in a number of ways from public speaking, to working with deadlines, to gaining knowledge from hands on training. I am very thankful for this opportunity to make an impact in our community with the Corporate Social Responsibility project while getting closer to my goal of becoming an electrical engineer.”

EPE’s Summer Internship Program provides students with opportunities to develop leadership and teamwork skills through various group projects and work assignments. Each student is placed with an EPE department to learn work skills related to their future educational and/or career goals. The internship included a learning curriculum that covers the fundamentals of power generation, transmission, and distribution. Students also participated in trainings that teach about business, finance, leadership and management skills.

“For high school students, the transition from the junior year to senior year is incredibly pivotal in the educational journey for any student, so having access to internships of this type can be a unique experience in determining what trajectory they choose to take,” shares interim CEO of EPE Adrian J. Rodriguez. “Each student – both high school and college – will become a vital part of the team gaining insight to the Utility while experiencing integral partnerships built by a local company.”

One of the major components to the EPE summer internship is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Project, an annual initiative in which the students identify a need within the community and find creative ways to help address it. This year, the EPE intern cohort built a STEAM Lab at the El Paso Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) and unveiled it on July 30, 2019, that included a donation of $2,000 to help maintain the Lab through the year.

“Giving back to those in need is very important because here in El Paso we need to grow together,” said Javier Villalba, intern with EPE Human Resources Department. “This year’s CSR project has helped impact the lives of children at the ASYMCA, as well as offer me insight on leadership, organization and even presentation skills.”

About EPE’s Summer Internship and CSR Initiative

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative is an effort that is completely led by EPE’s cohort of selected summer college and high school interns. EPE interns select an organization that serves the community, and through the annual CSR initiative they must plan, develop, and execute a project that will help expand the organization’s services. Through this project, students learn valuable lessons about teamwork and project management that will help them in college and beyond. In the past, interns have raised money to help renovate Aliviane’s Women’s and Children’s facilities (2018) and furnish a new building for the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence (2017). Beyond the CSR initiative, EPE interns are offered real-world learning experiences by becoming team members to an EPE department.

About El Paso Electric

El Paso Electric is a regional electric utility providing generation, transmission and distribution service to approximately 428,000 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000 square mile area of the Rio Grande valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico. El Paso Electric's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EE.

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