From left to right: Paul Yavarow, Antony Samuel, and Sam Heyd
We thoroughly enjoy hosting college interns every semester. Each student brings a unique perspective and a fresh outlook to our company. Our interns for the Fall 2017 semester were no exception. Paul Yavarow, Sam Heyd, and Antony Samuel were each outstanding and worked extremely hard to help us achieve our goals as a company.
Paul and Antony are both students at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Paul will graduate in the May of 2019 with his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (ME). Applying to college is actually what first piqued Paul’s interest in ME. He knew he wanted to go into an engineering field, but was not sure which one until his orientation at Tech freshman year. Since then, he has also joined a few aerospace groups at Tech and finds them fun and exciting. Thinking back on his internship with GO, Paul commented, “It’s a huge plus to enjoy coming in to work every day and to be good friends with everyone in the office.” He appreciated the speed at which tasks were completed and new ones were assigned saying, “It’s very satisfying to see projects progress so quickly.” For future interns, Paul recommends for them to go after those projects they are interested in and want to work on. This is something he practices both in school and during his internships and has found it to work well.
Antony will graduate from Tech in May of 2018 with his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (EE). Antony knew back in high school that EE would be his college major and eventual career. He loved putting together circuits and competing in science competitions. He also credits his love of EE to his internships throughout college where he was able to put his EE classes into practice. Looking back on his time at GO, Antony most enjoyed the fact that he was able to work on projects that have a direct impact on our company. He felt trusted to do his job well and appreciated being able to contribute meaningful work. He loved working with circuits and other electrical engineering tasks during his time with us, but also enjoyed working directly on the GO1 ITA, soldering wires and connecting bolts. As for future interns, Antony advises, “Don’t be afraid to ask for jobs that are out of your scope and get your hands dirty in everything you can.” Antony will return to GO as a part-time intern for the Spring 2018 semester as well.
Sam knew nothing about the world of engineering until he graduated high school and started looking into potential careers. All throughout school he was good at math and science and also had a fascination with space and rockets. When deciding on a major, he put these together and completed his undergraduate degree in ME from Washington State University. He is now a student at the University of Southern California and will graduate with his Master’s degree in Astronautical Engineering in May of 2018. Sam credits his internship with GO as changing his perspective on what he looks for in a job. His top priority now for future internships and jobs is to find a company like GO that “treats you as a person, not a number.” He seconds Antony’s advice for interns to come saying, “Don’t feel nervous about doing something outside of your scope. Everyone here is really open and will help you learn things and will give you really good feedback.” One of his favorite aspects of GO was the open office environment. He appreciated the ability to quickly and easily ask questions of people with experience in several different fields.
Just for fun, we asked Paul, Antony, and Sam to describe something on their bucket list. Sam hopes to one day join the list of people who have gone sky diving from space, or “space-diving”. Antony would like to become a high school or college teacher at some point and work as a mentor to students. Paul’s goal is to take time off to complete the Appalachian trail – he has already hiked almost 400 miles of it! Now that the Fall semester has ended, all three interns are once again focused on classes. During their time with GO, they each completed tasks and worked on projects that will have lasting impacts for years to come. We wish them the best of luck and welcome Antony back for the Spring semester!
