You can find my final photo essay in the photo essay section under "internship at makerplace"
 
What new appreciations did you develop while working as an intern? Why?
      One of the main things I really learned to appreciate is the amount of hard work that the citizens and non-citizens of america put forth. Bouncing around performing timely tasks that can really take a toll on the body, I quickly realized just how hard electricians and other field service men work on a daily basis. It took me three days to slowly install the four ceiling fans. Throughout this process, I got bored of doing the same steps over and over again. It then struck me that an electrician could do this ten times in one day, and turn around and do it again the next day. It really helped me to appreciate the essential work they and others do.

What qualities or characteristics did you see in the people around you that you want to develop in yourself? Why?
      A lot of my coworkers and even The members of MakerPlace were able to stop the two "leading guys" here and ask them for help or for advice. This is something that no matter who the person is, I am bad at. I am extremely shy to anyone I am not close with and it takes me longer than usual to warm up to a new person. Although I am now completely comfortable stopping Brian or Michael for help, my first week was fairly awkward.

How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern?
      The internship was quite a shell shocker to me. The main thing that really effected me from it was seeing what having a job is like and seeing what commitments people make for jobs and how hard they work.

How might internship influence the direction of your life?
      It has definitely already affected how I will decide on my career path.
 
To give my self options, I will respond to all these questions and choose the couple that I like the most at a later time.

How did you measure the success of the work you did while you were an intern? What did you learn from this?
      In my internship, instead of working on a big drawn out project, I worked on a bunch of fun projects that were fairly big, mostly in size, but also in effect to the facility. I am not sure if I really measured my success as I went along, but I can see my success mainly by walking around Makers Place facility any time and seeing what the improvements I made including installing four ceiling fans, designing and building a photo shooting station, and  and installing a much needed air ventilation system for removing wood dust that required cutting a huge hole in the roof. I could also measure success in the cuts and bruises I have from all the jobs I did. 

How did you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace?
     As I previously stated, I contributed to Makers Place by adding in ceiling fans, ventilation systems, a photo station, and other small improvements. I also helped my mentor with his company called Soul Ryde by preparing wine bottles for an event honoring Irwin Jacobs, who was a major contributor to the founding of  the High Tech School Foundation.


How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education?
      On a basic level, it was educational to me because I exercised some of the math and sciences I have learned over my years of schooling. Also I was learning new things the entire time. These skills include furthering my electrician skills, lots of design and engineering skills, which are important to me because I have great interest in an engineering career. It was also meaningful to me because of the professional aspect. I feel I learned to be more professional and also just realized how to and where to be more professional. I can definitely apply this to my senior year of high school.

How was your work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and your specific internship site?
       I feel a bit repetitive, but the work I was doing was very close to the work of some professions and actual jobs in our world. To have skills necessary to install basic home electronics is something that could significantly help me to get a job. Along with most of the skills I learned being applicable to the business world, they are also important for when I own a home or start a family. To be able to do my own home improvement can save me lots of money and time and will help me to get the ladies!

How did your project go from an idea or inspiration to a final product?
      Before my internship even started, I really wanted to build a protective accessory for my car. After thoroughly drafting, planning, and even purchasing the materials for this project, I was completely shot down by the owners of the vehicle I drive, my parents. I was about one week into my internship and was at square one in terms of my final project. So in desperation, I quickly thought up a simple plan for something that, with lots of effort, could turn into a real business, but for now is still a concept. I decided to craft a body boarding accessory, called a hand-plane, out of the highly sustainable product bamboo. I created a few types of hand plane designs and cut them out and made them look real nice. If everything goes perfect, I can team up with a local skateboard production company that specializes in bamboo boards and we could work together to expand their already growing business. Although i am doubtful that this will work, I am going to try as best as I can. I started with hand-cut planes, but would like to move on to CNC router production due to its preciseness and speediness
 

How has this experience  made you consider your college path that will ultimately lead to your career?

          Over the past couple weeks, I have realized how much I love hands on work and how I love creating something from nothing. At this point in my life, I have dialed in my idea of what I want to do in life to either film and multimedia of a sort, and engineering. Within engineering, I am really interested in environmental engineering and a few other types.  Before internships, I was really drawn towards film because of some the projects I had in class. When i started my internship however, I realized my true love for creating and designing things. Throughout my internship, I have done quite a few projects that my mentor left very open ended so that I wasn't just doing a job for him. An example is the photo backdrop I set up. I had to design a bracket for the two rolls of paper that could be small, simple and strong enough to hold upwards of twenty pounds of weight with very challenging leverage aspects. I have also talked to some of the members as i go around the facility and hear about their life experiences. many of them are engineers and they all love their jobs. As I head into my last week of internship, I can say that I am now much more interested in a career in engineering.
 
i am also starting a photo essay. this is my first one but i feel i can get the hang of it. for now, you can find the photos ill be using in my final photo essay in the photo section under the internship tab.
 
First off, an apology for the lateness of my recent posts. I've been really busy in my internship. Just the other day, I worked my required hours for school purposes and then continued into the night for a total of 13 hours of work time. I've also ended up coming home and passing out a lot of the days. 
Today I realized that my spanish skills I've learned in spanish class have helped me because members of Makers Place sometimes bring in folks help and a few of them were spanish speakers so it was fun to make small conversation with them and it was a good feeling to know that all the spanish I learned stayed in my brain. 
As I continue to install more fans for the summertime, I am getting continuously better with electric work. I have figured out ways to maneuver the wires with out touching the possibly live material. One of the boxes that I had to splice into had a really wonky setup and we couldn't figure out where to turn off the power for it so I had to work under extreme caution. Today I will develop a new skill also. After my work hours I am going to take a class on using CorelDraw, a software used in CNC and Laser cutting machines. Tomorrow I am also taking a laser engraving class so that i can add designs to my major project, which you can find pictures of in my photo section.
 
Here at Maker Place, self advocacy is a must. Being that there are tons of machines that I have no idea how to use, I need help a lot. On Monday, I needed to cut thick metal and knew that the machine I could use was too weak so I had to get help with this monster of a machine that did the trick. As for a time when I should have asked for help and didn't, I later was smoothing the same metal and used the wrong sander disk. I found out it can get too thin with improper use and shatter into many sharp parts.
 
PictureThe kiln station I created
         The past couple of days have been pretty interesting. I have taken up many jobs and gotten a feel for what working in the shop is like. On Friday I was asked to help install conduit, which is piping used to protect electrical wiring, at a very high elevation. I had to climb a ladder up to the ceiling of the warehouse, which is at about 30 feet or so. At times the ladder seemed very rickety and unsafe but I lived and that is what matters. I have given many tours of the facility and have made quite a few small improvements already. I think I will be making a photo album on this blog if it is possible because I will have many photos by the end of the three weeks. I can already tell that there will be very few times where I will be bored.
-More to come!

 
What strikes you most about your workplace?
-The workplace is very laid back and fun, but still safe and professional.
What strikes you most about your colleagues?
-All of my colleagues seem to be very creative and knowledgeable.
What strikes you most about the job you're doing?
-I didn't know I would have to do so much cleaning. I was a little surprised by that but its not that bad compared to the rest of the day.
What are you excited about?
-I am excited to finish my projects that improve the facility so that I  can work on my personal project.
What are you worried about?
-I am worried that i will not have time for my personal project because i have many other projects to complete.
 
1. Where are you going?
- I just recently finalized my internship with a company called Maker Place. Its a big warehouse where members can come in and use the provided tools and machines to design test and create their products. It has a metal shop, wood shop, laser lab, CNC machines, and much more!
2. Who's your mentor?
My mentor is Brian Salmon. He is the CEO of the company.
3. What will you be doing?
In the mornings, I will tidy up the shop so its safe for members to use and then work on either my presentable project or any large projects that I can learn new skills from.
4. What are you excited about learning through this internship experience?
I am excited to learn how to use the #D printer, the CNC machines, some of the metal machines i am not familiar with and learning about being a CEO of a business.
5. What are you nervous about?
I'm mostly nervous about messing up while using a machine and injuring myself or others. I once heard a story about a guy who chopped off his finger using a machine incorrectly so that's kinda scary.