Co-op and Internship Experiences Go Remote

Due to COVID-19, STEM students have had to do their internships from the comfort of their homes. This unprecedented change has had some benefits and setbacks for students. Here are a couple of students and their stories.

Aeryk McEwen, a native of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, is a senior majoring in Information Technology. Aeryck had an internship with HVSS (High Voltage Substation Services) in New Wilmington, PA for Spring 2020, right about when quarantine started. As the spread got worse, Aeryk’s internship quickly went remote. Fortunately, it felt the same to him and eventually he started to like it. During his remote internship, he explained that it hasn't made him worse, but it also hasn't made him any better. He gets enough work done, but he’s noticed that sometimes he gets too comfortable and can make himself lazy. He listens to music to help him get his work done. Aeryk’s goal is to either become a computer network equipment seller, or start his own business selling computer networking equipment. He really enjoys networking and thinks that it could earn a lot of money off of sales for a business. 

Jared Bryarly is a third year student from Columbiana, Ohio and is majoring in mechanical engineering. Jared has done a total of 3 co-op terms, 1 in person, 1 online, and 1 mixed. Jared’s Lubrizol co-op was in Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived in Cleveland. He enjoyed getting to experience his co-op and being around his family. At work, Jared and his colleagues used a lot of email communication and also used Microsoft teams to quickly chat with one another about questions and suggestions. The pandemic has improved Jared’s experience because he had to solve problems that aren't traditionally seen in the engineering field such as communication strategy and working on projects with people that you’ve never had a conversation in person, or people on the other side of the world. Jared found the worst parts of working remotely were the feelings of being alone all day. He missed seeing his friends and coworkers every day. He didn’t realize how much the little coffee breaks meant until he couldn’t have them anymore. After college, Jared’s goal is to work in metal fabrication and design.

Morgan Coleman is a junior from Austintown, OH, and is majoring in Chemical engineering. During her first remote internship with BRITE Energy Solutions in Warren, Ohio , Morgan managed to kill two birds with one stone by becoming more productive at home.  She was also able to save a lot of money on gas and other traveling expenses since she did not have to commute to the internship. The pandemic has not made a significant change in Morgan’s experience; instead, it made her learn many new ways of virtual communication and how to work on a team remotely.  Morgan and her colleagues exchanged documents and other relevant information through Microsoft Sharepoint, and communicated through emails and Microsoft Teams Virtual Meetings/Chat Messages. They were also still able to do lab visits and visit BRITE for in-person meetings when necessary, they just had to social distance in the conference room and wear masks. For Morgan, the worst part of working remotely is not being able to experience office friendships that she would have if she  worked in an office.  Rather than being around people to casually make conversations and updates about our day, she would be home alone and only speaking on video calls.  Additionally, she also found it difficult at first to find self-motivation to get everything done because she would get distracted. She eventually learned how to get past that and focus on what she needed to, by taking small breaks in between. Morgan is unsure of what field she would specifically like to go into with Chemical Engineering, but would like to hopefully find a full-time job close to home before graduation.  Also, she is hoping to take her Chemical Engineering FE exam next Spring to get on track to become a professional engineer (PE) in the next few years.

We’re glad our students have still been able to have co-op and internship experiences, even if they look a little different right now. Even with a global pandemic, we still find the opportunity to learn new skills and ways to collaborate.