Luther student Fraser interns at Iowa Interfaith Power and Light

Liam Fraser organized a clean energy tour around Decorah and promoted clean energy with the help of local leaders, during his summer internship with Iowa Interfaith Power and Light in Decorah, Iowa.

The son of Paul Fraser and Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon of Urbandale, Iowa, Fraser graduated from Urbandale High School in 2014.

Fraser worked with Interfaith Power and Light in planning a clean energy tour around Decorah. Two local congregations hosted tour stops where Fraser helped highlight their efficiency and clean energy investments. The tour also incorporated a stop at a third faith community who collaborated in energy efforts with Luther College. That stop included discussion about Luther’s success with solar PV and geothermal heating and cooling.

He also organized meetings with local energy leaders to discuss possible involvement in the project and enjoyed conversations he had with them regarding community sustainability.

Fraser learned how unifying the topic of energy can be in a small community such as Decorah. “Everyone relies on energy to go about their days, so determining ways to improve efficiency often brings people together”¦[t]his internship allowed me to become more comfortable reaching out to various community members and marketing an event to a specific target audience,” he said.

Upon graduation, Fraser will look into working for organizations such as Iowa Interfaith Power and Light or the Winneshiek Energy District. He believes developing community clean energy should be a national priority. The experience he has gained has inspired him to consider applying for graduate school.

Approximately 10 percent of Luther students take an internship for academic credit each academic year. The Luther College Career Center assists students with their internship search through resume preparation, networking, online internship searches, career fairs, on-campus interviewing, and connecting the student to alumni through the college’s Alumni Internship Program.

Students also meet with a faculty adviser prior to the internship to create an internship learning plan that includes learning goals and assessment benchmarks.

An internship work supervisor also assists in the process by writing an evaluation of the student at the end of the internship. Students complete a self-reflection form to help finalize the learning experience.

A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,050, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college’s website: http://www.luther.edu.