Every ending has a new beginning: Intern shares his rich experience at Citizens Utility Board

CUB was very fortunate to have Muhidin Sheekh as our outreach intern during the 2017-18 academic year.  Our staff would like to thank him for his hard work and great service.  He was a quick learner, very talented, and always great working with people.  We wish him the very best in his next adventures! Message from Sheekh: Interning at Citizens Utility Board (CUB) has been meaningful and rewarding to say the least. I have experience with various internships, from Fortune 500 corporations to university employment, but CUB has been the most impactful. The reason comes from learning about energy efficiency, to ultimately making a difference for citizens by helping them better understand their utilities. I was surrounded with a wonderful team that has helped me steadily learn the nuances about energy and utilities. They are experts in this field and I am blessed to sponge the wealth of knowledge. On my first day of the job, I didn’t know what to expect because my greatest strengths lie in my skills in mathematics and technology, not in energy. I thought to myself, “Am I stepping way out of my comfort zone?” and “Is energy really important?” I was wrong. Energy efficiency around the house has a plethora of benefits, some of which include financial savings and environmental benefits. If you want to further read about how to save money on your utility bill, please read my previous blog, “College roommates reduce energy waste and save over $50 a month. What is the secret?” Throughout my time at CUB I have attended many energy events, created outreach materials, and wrote blogs about utilities. Combining those experiences allowed me to meet some great people along the way. I got an opportunity to meet CUB’s board, the folks at CERTs, and the many energy consumers around the state of Minnesota. Without the collective efforts of everyone, this opportunity would have not been meaningful. Thank you to my team at CUB that has allowed me to grow throughout this internship, from a student who knew little about energy to now embracing the role of an “energy police” for my roommates. I am forever grateful to CUB for bringing me back for a second term during my internship and giving me a full dive in to the life of a nonprofit organization. I just want to take a moment to recognize the many accomplishments we achieved this year and will continue to do so in the future. We are continuously lobbying on behalf of energy consumers at the legislative level: we helped over thousands of consumers through one on one bill consultations, we attended various corporations to give presentations on energy, and we held a successful end of the year celebration. Upon the completion of my internship in May, I will be graduating from the University of Minnesota. I plan to take a two-month vacation to Hawaii and Indonesia with my roommates and some classmates. Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist once said, “When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.” After returning from vacation, I start my full-time job as a data engineer at a software company. A year later I will be working towards earning my MBA at Stanford in data analytics. While my sense of my new beginning is in IT and my future education is in analytics, energy efficiency will always be on my mind. After all I am the “energy police.” If you or a friend see something unusual on your bill and can’t get it resolved, give us a call at 651-300-4701. CUB is here to help.