Friday, August 5, 2011
Active serviceman and full–time student Michael Streight started thinking about the Navy's mentor program and wondered how Ecotech Institute could use something similar.
That idea led to Ecotech Institute developing MORE (Mentoring Others Results in Excellence), a program to help incoming students get acclimated to the unique school and the Denver metro area.
After a 22–year Navy career, Streight says the aircraft system he works with is being phased out, so he sees his military career coming to an end. Now he wants a new career that has growing potential, so he's going to Ecotech Institute four nights per week while working full time. But he still makes time to serve as one of the MORE program's first mentors.
"It's a great program because as mentors we've been in their shoes," said Streight. "We've had their classes and had the different instructors. We can also offer our opinions on non–school subjects such as the best areas to live and ideas for things to do on the weekends."
With 25 percent of Ecotech's students relocating to Colorado to attend school, this program helps students instantly have a buddy when they move.
"We have students from as far away as Florida and Maryland coming to Ecotech so it's important those students especially feel connected, since their friends and family may be thousands of miles from their new home," said Mike Seifert, president of Ecotech Institute.
To help with relocation, Ecotech Institute has also created a relocation guide that provides information about Aurora and the Denver Metro area. That guide can be found at http://www.ecotechinstitute.com/ecotech-location.cfm.
Ecotech Institute, owned and operated by Education Corporation of America (ECA), is the first and only college focused entirely on preparing America's workforce for careers in renewable energy and sustainable design.