There can't be a much stronger seal of approval to a program's success than to hear support for its growth straight from the president. Listening to a live feed of President Obama's comments a few weeks ago on new clean energy initiatives, it was a proud moment for the SITN to hear of his support for additional investment in building a competent solar workforce.

For those of us who live on the east coast, this will go down as “The Winter to Remember.” Record snowfall. Flight delays. Winter storm namings. Solar, however, has been setting its own records from coast to coast.

Timing, as they say, is everything. In politics. In baseball. I’d also posit that talent and vision are close cousins. And in the case of the Solar Instructor Training Network, I’d add one more: favorable global economics. The speed and magnitude of change in the global solar market has been spectacular if not daunting. Who knew, four years ago, that the industry would see year-after-year of exponential growth, fueling the demand and need for a highly-trained solar workforce?