Our Campus Ambassador Program allows interns to be hired on for the summer and gain hands-on experience within each of our employee owned companies. Learn what it’s like to intern at Supreme Integrated Technology through Tyler Foreman’s perspective, who concluded this program last month.
“During my summer as an engineering intern at Supreme Integrated Technology I learned so many useful skills that has propelled me forward in both my education as well as preparation for my career. I worked on a wide variety of projects in the fast-paced atmosphere of the office including designing parts, drawings and assembly of a items for hydraulic power applications. After speaking with many of my peers back at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette who are also doing summer internships at different companies it really gave me a sense of the realization of just how valuable of an experience that Supreme Integrated Technology has given me.
I really didn’t know what to expect when I showed up for my first day of my internship because I have never experienced a summer internship before. I figured that I would be doing minor projects around the office, mostly just tedious tasks that the other engineers just didn’t feel like doing. I was also skeptical because I have had no experience in school learning about hydraulic and fluid power experience because it is not taught in our curriculum. But when I showed up, I felt as though I was being treated as a new hire, not a summer intern. I had so many questions when I first showed up and I was greeted with more answers and support that I could have possibly expected. I was included on all the meetings to learn how projects are reviewed step by step as the design process goes from start to finish. This allows the Mechanical Engineers to receive needed feedback from each other, being that these are custom hydraulic systems, every project that they receive could be completely different from the last. This allows for an incredible learning experience in an engineer’s career and having this level of support from the team you work with provides better engineers and a successful company. After the first meeting that I sat in on, I had so many questions regarding many of the symbols as well as terms that they were using because they were very unfamiliar to me. Everyone present has a prompt answer to each question that I had and made sure that I knew it before they were done explaining. After the meeting one of the engineers sat me down and proceeded to give me a Hydraulics 101 course on all the basics in order to familiarize myself with the work that they did. I was amazed by how knowledgeable he was and so thankful for his willingness to take an hour and a half out of his day to teach me everything from common symbols that are used in the schematic to common equations that are used in hydraulic calculations.
Being a student for most of my life I have not been able to get a lot “real world” experience when it came to the field of engineering. It was nice to see all the technical studies that I learned in school come to life in the work place. Sometimes as a student it feels like we are in a constant cycle of tedious concepts that we are forced to learn and memorize, which I find makes it difficult to determine what is important and what is applicable in the workplace. As I was working my internship this summer, I really enjoyed seeing these classes come to life in my work. One of the most rewarding parts of this job was seeing a project go from the design phase, to the calculation phase, then to go out into the shop to witness these ideas and design become physical projects. I felt such a sense of excitement when I attended the Campus Ambassador Program in Houston. While we were there meeting with all the different companies in EOHI and was able to ask questions regarding what each company does. When we were on the tour of Supreme Integrated Technology in Houston, they brought us into the shop to see all the current projects we had going on. I was looking around and I saw a familiar item that was in an opened box. It was a pinion that the engineers in New Orleans had me design and make a model of. This was the first time that I had seen a physical item that I designed sitting on the floor in front of me. I will always remember that moment because that was the first time that I felt like a true engineer.
Overall, I have cherished my summer internship experience here at Supreme Integrated Technology. I learned so many useful skills and experience that has molded me into a more confident student as well as a hungry engineer eager to graduate in December so that I can start my career. From life lessons given to me by my mentors, technical knowledge, industry experience and what it is like to work day-to-day as a Mechanical Engineer. As a student so close to graduation, I began to question whether the major I chose was the right pick for me. After working this summer, I know now that there is no other place that I want to be. I have such a renewed passion for my career choice, and I am so thankful for Supreme Integrated Technology simply putting me to work so that I could realize that.”
We appreciate all the hard work and fresh ideas Tyler brought to our team of employee owners. We wish him the best of luck with his future endeavors!
