The Baldwin County Utilities Internships (BCUI) program will host 29 students across five utilities this summer.
With assistance from Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council (SAWDC), Riviera Utilities launched their first annual internship program in the summer of 2021. Receiving applications from students in high schools all across the county, Riviera quickly saw the potential of growing the program to a county-wide coalition and immediately began reaching out to other public utilities. Eager to highlight career opportunities in utilities, North Baldwin Utilities (NBU), Daphne Utilities and Gulf Shores Utilities proudly joined Riviera in 2022 to create the united Baldwin
County Summer Utilities Internship Program. As another summer approaches, the program is excited to announce that Fairhope Utilities will be joining the initiative and hosting interns in 2023.
With several of the internship positions expanding to after-school co-op programs, the utilities decided to remove “Summer” from the program title. Proud of the program’s success, the participating utilities also decided to create a unified logo to symbolize the collective effort created for the betterment of the area and industry. The program title and logo will be used for promotions and student identification on hats, backpacks, water bottles and other materials.
Beginning in June and lasting for nine weeks, BCUI allows uprising seniors to be exposed to and learn about public utility careers, observe and perform basic work skills, and shadow experienced employees as they perform technical tasks. At completion of the nine-week program, students are more prepared for future careers and have knowledge of the skills and talent needed to work at a public utility.
BCUI applications are open to all uprising seniors in Baldwin County but are geared toward students wanting to join the workforce immediately after graduation. Interested students must contact their school-assigned counselor to apply. The 40-hour per week internships are paid but offer no full-time benefits. While internships are available to family members of participating utility employees, no special treatment or preference is shown to those applicants. Each utility applies its own discretion and nepotism policy per situation.
There are 29 total internship positions available for 2023. Riviera will host 16 students consisting of two gas operators, two groundworkers, two water field operators, two warehouse workers, two electric engineering technicians, three appliance service technicians and two mechanic helpers. Daphne Utilities will host four rotating students in the following departments - water, wastewater, natural gas, GIS and warehouse. Gulf Shores Utilities will host three students - one each in water production, wastewater reclamation and customer service. North Baldwin Utilities will host four students over four departments - gas distribution, water treatment, wastewater and water distribution. Fairhope Utilities will host two students in natural gas.
The utilities of BCUI thank the SAWDC, Baldwin County Board of Education and participating supervisors, administrators and managers at each utility for making the program successful. The combined time and efforts have and will continue to impact the area, industry and the futures of our students.