Dear Cole

Dear Cole,

It has already felt like weeks, but I’ve been downtown for just three days. So much has happened, yet I know there is so much yet to experience. Hopefully, you feel the same way all the way through the program. I was a little nervous the first two days, but I am settling in to my tiny chair here at the EcoWorks headquarters, as well as into my apartment with a killer view back on the Wayne State campus.

By the end of this internship, hopefully there are several things that you can take with you as you return home to Grosse Pointe in August, and eventually rejoin your classmates in Ann Arbor in September. After three days, I am in the process of gaining a new perspective about Detroit. But by the end, I hope that, from this experience, not only will you think of Detroit differently, but you will have so many amazing new thoughts about life as well.

On Detroit, I’ve been coming to realize that my whole life, all I’ve really heard about is the history of Detroit. It’s another thing to see it firsthand, but I’ve always known about the beautiful architecture, and the countless arsons and years of neglect that have ruined many of these gorgeous buildings. I’ve always known that Detroit has been founded on the automobile, and the city is designed in a way that is completely unique, and rooted in the connection Detroit has with cars. So that’s I’ve thought of Detroit — an old city with a lot of history, and I know that many of it’s current problems arise from that unique history.

But over the last three days I’ve been able to be with so many people who are not so much concerned with the history — rather, they are completely invested and so energetic about the future of the city. And I’ve began to think of Detroit in that way too.

At EcoWorks, I’ve begun to work on a baseline assessment of the “target neighborhoods” for the EcoDistrict project. Over the next few years, EcoWorks will be working with these neighborhoods to implement a variety of programs in hopes that they become models for sustainable living for other neighborhoods in Detroit, as well as across the country. I want to be able to finish this baseline assessment (hopefully in large part on my own), which will

I also want to contribute to helping to convince homeowners and property managers to invest in energy efficiency. This means talking to community members about our projects, and creating materials that will summarize key information (like the community health 1-pager I am working on now).

And a third preliminary goal I’d like to set for this summer, is to see something tangible come for my contributions. My supervisor’s told me about a project with Michigan SAVES, where I’d work with business owners to help get their energy systems fixed, where this might happen. Fingers crossed!

So although I spent today and yesterday staring at my laptop screen, I am learning a ton about energy efficiency and sustainability. And what is driving me forward is I know there are bigger things to come. I want to be able to substantially impact a community this summer, and at least this week I’ll have to put in the time and pay my dues in order to do that in the future. Next week, I’ll start going to meetings and talking to business/homeowners.

Also, I think it’s casual Friday tomorrow, so that’s another thing I’m looking forward too! I hope that you have enjoyed all the things that I’m looking forward to about this summer– work related and otherwise.

Sincerely,

Cole (Your Former Self)