Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd. (CUC) is hosting 24 students in its first virtual Summer Internship and Vocational Trainee Programme.

With the pandemic causing a majority of CUC employees to work remotely, the normal summer internship programme could not be held on location, but it was important to the Company to still engage the students. CUC has created a virtual programme for all of the students ages 14 years to 23 years who applied, to gain work experience. Using Microsoft Teams, the programme provides the opportunity for the students to connect with members of the CUC team and learn about the Company and its operations.
The high school and university students are learning remotely. The students attend weekly sessions that focus on CUC’s Power Plant, regional perspectives, electricity and new technology as well as how CUC has been coping with COVID-19. The students will be expected to apply this knowledge to produce a final report and a Power Point presentation on their experience in the programme and the impact that COVID-19 has had on the utility industry.

CUC’s Learning & Development Specialist Erin Kaufman assisted with coordinating the virtual programme. She said, “For CUC, safety has always been the top priority for its employees, customers and community and in these COVIC-19 times, we knew we could not bring the students into our facilities. However, we came up with a programme which offers a similar learning experience that students can take part in virtually. Even though students won’t be working on CUC’s premises, they will have an opportunity to speak with a cross section of the CUC team to gain an understanding of how the Company has been operating during these challenging times.”

To date, the students have been responding positively to the programme and they are using the technology to stay in touch with all that is going on. Taneil Lee, a university student currently studying at Brunel University London in the United Kingdom, is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Public Health and Health Promotion. Commenting on her experience so far, Taneil said. “I like the programme so far. I appreciate that CUC took the initiative to find a safe way to keep students engaged. I’m excited to learn about CUC since my degree is heavily medically related and seeing that this is something new for me.” She applied to the CUC Summer Internship Programme looking for an opportunity to apply her knowledge from her public health degrees in a non-medical setting, with a focus on environmental matters.

The six-week programme will end on August 14th.

In spite of the current situation, CUC is proud to be able to develop some of the young people of the Cayman Islands and will continue to provide opportunities for their growth and work experience.