Windham Employee Issued Professional Planner's Certification

Windham Town Planner Elizabeth Wood has traveled a long path to where she is today, and her hard work has paid dividends in her being awarded her official Professional Planner's Certification this month.

Wood, who started in Windham in October 2009, passed the American Institute of Certified Planner's (AICP) Exam in November, which she said demands a typical study time of 100-150 hours over a six month period.

The AICP is the American Planning Association's professional institute, which provides recognized leadership around the country in the certification of professional planners, ethics, professional development, planning education and standards of planning practice.

Wood has about six years of professional planning experience, and in order to qualify to take the AICP exam, she had to show job experience in four core areas of planning.

Wood came to Windham from Sheridan, WY, which has a population of about 16,000, where she co-founded an organization called "hYPe," or Helping Young Professionals Engage.

"The mission of hYPe is to recruit young workers and their families to the Sheridan area as a place to live, work and play," said Wood. "The reason for creating the group was due to the aging population in the city of Sheridan. Many retires were moving to Sheridan, while young adults, who grow up in the area, would leave town after graduating college."

Wood said that new adults would move out of Sheridan within two years because they were having trouble finding friends their age.

The organization grew to 150 members in just over a year.

Wood was later recognized as one of Wyoming's 2008 "Top-40-Under-40" by the local Capser Star Tribune.

She has completed six internships at local, state and federal levels of government.