The YEA program offers many personal and professional benefits to its members.  The members in YEA have a wide variety of experiences and specialties in relation to the HVAC industry, Sustainable Design, Green Buildings, HVAC Products and Building Automation to name a few.  By having members with diverse professional backgrounds our members are always able to help each other by giving guidance and sharing their experiences.  This allows our members a special perspective to their careers that would not be possible without YEA. 

Through our YEA events we are focusing on creating an environment where young professionals can gain technical knowledge, meet other professionals and learn about the interesting things that many of the other professionals in our industry are doing.  Although our events are geared towards networking and learning we prefer to do this is in a social atmosphere.  Some of our past events included a pub crawl, technical tours of buildings in the Toronto area and a paintball event.  This year we will be growing off the success of our past years and we will be offering more opportunities for professionals to meet and discuss their experiences, so please contact us for more information.

YEA is an active group at the ASHRAE events and we work in collaboration with other organizations in ASHRAE such as the Student Activities committee, Membership committee and ASHRAE Event Planning committee.  We hope that YEA members see the benefit of participating in the many committees that ASHRAE provides and we are always there to help any member in growing their ASHRAE career.  Outside of ASHRAE many of our members are involved with other organizations such as the Toronto Construction Association’s Young Construction Executive Club.  YEA’s involvement with these other organizations broadens the benefits enjoyed by our members.  Becoming involved with an organization such as YEA will give young professionals the edge, knowledge and expertise that are in such high demand in today’s competitive economy.

We also have our Mentorship Program designed create a professional partnership between chapter members. As the future leaders of ASHRAE, this program offers members the opportunity to gain a more in-depth understanding of their profession, the HVAC&R industry, and ASHRAE in general. Instead of going through the process on their own, members have the ability to turn to their mentor for assistance, questions or insight. 

This is also a beneficial way for YEA/Student members to grow in their career and develop professional expertise.  Ways in which mentors can help include providing career guidance, helping understand HVAC&R fundamentals, introducing their mentee to ASHRAE members and guiding their involvement within their ASHRAE chapter and Society. 

"We were young, but we had good advice and good ideas and lots of enthusiasm."
- Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation