Robert Frenken
Type: Internship
My STEP signature project was a 7 month Project Engineering Co-op for DuPont at Circleville. The main functions of this project were to help execute capital projects throughout the plant site. Beyond my main duties, I was a part of numerous trainings and outside work functions to better understand my job and the people working with me.
There were a few assumptions of myself that changed throughout this project. The most glaring was my ability to take on and execute multiple tasks at the same time. This skill of multitasking had a high learning curve, where it took many months to cultivate the skill. However, by the end of the co-op, I was successfully able to carry out multiple tasks in a short period of time. Another skill I was about to improve on was my ability to network and interact with people in a professional environment.
The main event/ activity that helped me with my ability to take on multiple tasks was the day to day functions of the job. I first achieved this through observing other Project Engineers in how they carried out their projects. After a brief orientation, I was given the ability to take on smaller projects. This was a good step up, where I was able to hone in my skills, as well as learn more about all the intricate parts of the business. Finally, I was given more projects that was more up to speed to other project engineers.
As for my ability to interact in a professional environment, there were a few events that helped my improve my skills. First, I found the outside of work events to be very helpful. They are a great place to meet other co workers in an informal environment, where it is easier to learn more about them. I also found the multi day trainings to be a great place to meet people, as we had people from other parts of the site and other sites learn and cooperate in training activities.
I’d also like to add I had a lot of the fun I had during my co-op. Though a fair amount of it was work, I found that I had a great relationship with both my mentors and my other co-op. They made it enjoyable to go into work everyday, and I believe moving forward that finding a solid team of people in the workplace can really make a difference in your overall well being.
This co-op was essential to changing both my views, attitude, and skills in the professional world. I found that even just sitting and listening in meetings and interactions was important in my development. But the biggest change was doing real work, and the different expectations of work from school. I found a lot of my tasks to be a bit more ambiguous than in school, and I spent more time figuring out what needed to get addressed before I could move on into chipping away at the problem. This co-op also gave me tremendous insights into my interests. After a few months I decided that my interests were more geared to the ISE major than the Mechanical major, so I’m planning on switching from ME to ISE. Finally, I view this co-op as a great stepping stone that I can build off of towards my professional career.
