Photo By Ana Henderson | Summer interns visit the gun position where Munitions and Weapons Test Officer...... read more read more
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Sixteen students and recent graduates spent their summer at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground’s (YPG) extreme hot weather test center interning.
In 2022, there were only two.
In 2023, Patricia Conley in the Manpower and Workforce Development Division took over YPG’s internship program and it has continued to expand. YPG currently selects students and recent graduates from seven different programs.
“I'm extremely passionate about this program because it gives me a glimpse of our future workforce and I get to witness firsthand the growth and impact that each student has on the organization they work with,” remarked Conley.
Of the 16, some were stepping onto the proving ground for the first time, while others returned to Yuma Test Center for a second summer.
Madelina Macaluso, a rising junior who is attending Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff and studying mechanical engineering, applied for the internship at YPG to stay close to home and explore what the military does in her hometown. She had never been on either of the military installations in Yuma.
“It’s been just as good as I thought it would be. It’s really interesting to see the interworking of the DoD and what civilians do for the Army, in running the Army, and keeping Soldiers safe and prepared.”
To familiarize the students with YPG’s extensive role testing for the Department of Defense and its allies, they are given an aerial tour of the test range in a helicopter and an up-close tour of test sites and support shops. For example, interns visited the gun position where test officer Jonathan Bazua was firing a program. He told the students about the weapon system as they climbed inside. Afterwards they watched the test firing from safely inside a bunker and learned about the type of data collected.
Each intern was assigned to a test or test support division. Macaluso was impressed by the climactic cold/hot facility which simulates environments including cold, hot, humidity, icing, salt fog, altitude, and solar she saw while interning at the Metrology and Simulation Division.
Henry Benedictus, a third-year student studying mechanical engineering at NAU was also a first timer at YPG. He spent his summer interning at the Aviation Systems and Electronic Test (ASET) Division with the Aviation Branch. He went on live fire tests and worked collecting and comparing data. He was familiar with one data comparison program because he uses it at NAU.
Returning intern to ASET Jonathan Zanovitch has three semesters left at Arizona State University where he’s studying civil engineering. He pushed himself outside of his comfort zone, which helped him take on more responsibility.
“You have to ask questions and get involved or else you won’t be able to do much hands-on. It’s up to the intern to make it happen.”
He added, “When there’s downtime in your branch, you can reach out to other divisions and branches and try to get on their test. It’s something we are not used to doing, but part of being an intern is being an adult in a working-class world.”
Each student was assigned a real-world problem to solve during their internship.
Conley explained, “These projects are tailored to show students how their current academic studies translate to a career at YPG. With guidance from their mentors, they learn to navigate different processes, collaborate with teams, test their decision-making skills, and brief higher level leadership.”
Each finished their internship by presenting their project to Yuma Test Center Commander Lt. Col. Kevin Hicks. YPG Commander Col. John Nelson and Hicks joined the group for an internship appreciation luncheon and had the group share what they worked on and learned. During the luncheon on their final week, Conley told the group, “What you do matters.”
She added, “I appreciate all your energy and effort put into each one of your projects and just being here in general. Thank you for coming each and every day and putting in 110% into what you do.”
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2024 15:45 |
| Story ID: | 478426 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND , ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 240 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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