HELLO, I'M
Dylan Festler
B.S, MBA
Home
Introduction
My name is Dylan Festler. I have a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies, and an MBA in Finance. Throughout my years at Augsburg, St. Cloud State University and the University of Houston in Texas, I have become acclimated to various environments and specific regional concerns. It has been an incomparable experience to have lived in two very different areas of the country and acquiring knowledge related to the respective issues of each region.
I have taken a strong interest in promoting sustainability through well researched strategies and their implementation. It has always been my passion to preserve the environment through education and structured society. Through my experiences as an employee at RetroGreen Energy, I truly believe that I have made a difference in the state of Minnesota. Through the processes of explaining home energy systems and the building envelope to people in various communities, I have personally helped cut Xcel Energy’s fossil fuel consumption by 8% in residential programs. I have been given the opportunity to speak at various events across the greater Twin Cities area in regards to the carbon footprint of homeowners and how they too can make a positive impact on the environment.
My goal is to become an environmental compliance officer and ensure that rules and regulations are maintained to promote a sustainable planet for generations to come.
Site Navigation
At the top, there are different pages which can be selected. The first tab is my introduction. The education tab highlights my academic experience. The experience section describes my work life. Click contact for my personal information
Academics
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
Solar Power U.S.A
One assignment that I enjoyed was about solar power in the United States for my Energy and Transportation Technology class. This course highlighted the alternate methods of power and energy that have been continuing to grow in popularity as carbon dependent infrastructures have become an issue. The article given outlined the power of the sun and how it can be used to decrease dependency on foreign countries. This assignment really allowed me to gain a better understanding about solar power and how my generation can implement new strategies to promote sustainability for years to come.
Nickel and Dimed
This sample was a summary of the book “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich. This assignment was very interesting to me and I was able to gain a totally different perspective about working class women in America. In this study done by Barbara Ehrenreich, the ways in which the working class are exploited are vastly portrayed through a variety of sociological theories. Ehrenreich’s main goal was to establish a better understanding of the factors and processes that contribute to a low wage workers lifestyle of being exposed to massive levels of corporate exploitation. In her
experiment, Ehrenreich travels to three different cities presenting herself as
a single woman re-entering the workforce.
Presentations
HyperLoop Technology
In this assignment, my partner and I were to choose a technology in which we found interesting and do a technology assessment. We decided to choose the HyperLoop. This method of transportation was appealing to us and we wanted to research more information as to how it would work and what would be required. This presentation provided me with adequate information about the technology as well as the obstacles that our country faces in regards to its implementation. The course, Transportation and Energy Technology really opened my eyes to the alternative methods of transportation that are available and why we might begin to utilize them.
Diesel Fuel Storage
In this presentation, our group talks about how we could implement a diesel fuel storage facility using researched information to mitigate environmental issues that could arise from this type of construction. We did and environmental site assessment and determined which methods we would implement to create a sound site that would cause little to no damage to the environment. Our proposal statement was as follows: The objective of this development is to design an efficient and sustainable terminal that provides easy access to infrastructure and promotes economic growth while maintaining a flourishing environment through green design and environmentally sound operation practices.
Experience
WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE
In the past four years, I have gained a large amount of experience and insight in the sustainability and environmental categories. At St. Cloud State University, I have been able to apply myself and learn about the various aspects of the environment. From soil science to resource management, I have been able to gain knowledge about best management practices to promote a sustainable environment. From my time at RetroGreen Energy I have gained a large amount of customer service and communication experience in a professional atmosphere. Taking hundreds of phone calls per day, I have acquired the needed skills to promote a healthy relationship with clients. Working trade shows and events regarding home energy efficiency, I was able to meet and educate a large amount of people as to how they can make a difference in the community.
My time at EnviroTech allowed me to become independently motivated to get things done. As a building maintenance and restoration specialist, I learned to create and build positive relationships with management and the client. As a supervisor, I managed a small crew ensuring quality work was completed as well as ensuring timely completion of tasks. Being relied on to be flexible and adapt to situations that presented themselves allowed me to become a better employee.
My career objectives include becoming certified in various programs that allow me to become more knowledgeable in different aspects of the environment. I want to eventually get my LLC and become an environmental consultant. Promoting sustainability in residential and commercial programs is something I currently do and is a large part of the reason I love going to work each day.
Community Involvement
Residential Life – Recycling Program at St. Cloud State University. Our group has decided to work with the Residential Life on St. Cloud State’s Campus and Republic Waste Services on implementing new educational opportunities for proper recycling methods. The idea is to make a recycling competition with the students living in the dorms as well as doing a social media campaign. The University has an issue with recycling for the past years from both contamination and not being educated as to what can be recycled. The ultimate goal is to educated students at SCSU about recycling.
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Our goal was to make the St. Cloud State University community more aware of the issues regarding recycling on campus in the residence halls through education and social media campaigns. We created a presentation to show to all incoming freshman at their orientation as well as created social media posts dedicated to various events throughout the school year such as homecoming, Halloween, and more. Our relationship with Facilities Management gave us a better understanding as to how the recycling and waste services work on our campus. We learned about the recycling market and how it has changed over the last few years. We also implemented a potential competition between the residence halls on campus as to who can recycle the most material. As this issue has progressed, RHA and residence life has decided that it would serve a good purpose to implement a competition between residence halls that promotes proper recycling. The residence hall that recycles the most material within a semester will be rewarded with a pizza party and recognized by the university. The weight of the total recycled material will be divided by the total students in the hall to determine how much was actually recycled per person on average to give the smaller residence halls a chance to win. Each dorm building will have its own recycling bin designated to keep the recycling separate between each of the halls. The RHA will sort the bins to determine if there was contamination. The recycling will be weighed weekly and totaled up each month. The impact this project had on me as a student and person was great. I am now much more aware of the impact of proper recycling and how it plays a major role in the sustainability of the environment.
As I grew up on a small farm in Luxemburg, Minnesota, being a part of a small community allowed for many opportunities to volunteer. The local Lion's club hosted road and ditch cleanup every year. This involved driving in a pickup truck along local roads and picking up trash among other things not supposed to be there. This activity really opened my eyes to the amount of pollution that must be out there due to the shear amount we were removing from a local farm community. We found old gas cans with fuel still inside as well as rusty tools. I feel that this learning experience had a large influence on why I chose Environmental Studies as my major. Knowing that I could make a difference in the world when it comes to pollution helped me to become the person I am today. I am now much more motivated to get involved in professional societies and push for increased education regarding pollution and the damaging effects it has on the world.