WYAO Benefits from Pathways

Written by: Jay Dallman, WYAO

WYAO Interns from left to right: Morgan Clapshaw, Kaylen Cheesman, Daniel Craig, Sam Gulliford, Swedi Bitendelo, Jacob Hoffman, and Nicolas Frassenei. Not shown are Sedona Rockwood and Michael Gutierrez.

The Pathways Internship Program, formerly Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) and Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP), is a summer rotational internship program.

The program actively recruits college students from around the country, providing an opportunity to earn income in a summer position with a Reclamation office while gaining experience related to their field of study.

In the Great Plains Region, the Pathways Program is sponsored by the Regional Leadership Board (RLB). Students are stationed at a different office in our Region each summer until completion of their degree.

WYAO hosted nine Pathways student employees during summer 2016.

Wayne Parker, Chief of the Electrical Engineering Branch, supervised three of the new interns who are studying to be electrical engineers.

Daniel Craig plans to graduate in May 2017. He began his internship program at Flatiron Power Plant for ECAO last summer.

Sam Gulliford, a student at Oregon Institute of Technology, and Michael Gutierrez of Texas A&M, started their internships this summer at WYAO.

Wayne is very enthusiastic about his new interns. "The pool of electrical engineers that understand power generation is very small. The few colleges and universities that have a power program tend to teach their students only about transmission and distribution. The Pathways Program provides a mechanism to develop electrical engineers that understand power generation and are familiar with Reclamation operations."

Dan, Sam and Michael worked on generator lockout systems for Kortes, Fremont and Guernsey Power Plants.

Brock Owen, Chief of the Mechanical Engineering Branch, supervised Kaylen Cheesman (University of Southern Indiana) and Nicholas Frassenei (University of Massachusetts), both first year interns. Kaylen will be helped with maintenance of plant equipment at Seminoe, Kortes and Alcova Power Plants. Nicholas will be assisted with plant equipment maintenance at Fremont and Alcova Power Plants.

Swedi Bitendelo, a Civil Engineering major from Kansas State University is in his first year of the program. He worked for Claudia Hill in our Facilities Management Division. Swedi developed specifications for parking lot and access road resurfacing at Boysen and Alcova Power Plants. He also assisted with projects in the Technical Analysis Branch. On top of that, he is enrolled in ROTC at Kansas State and is serving in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Jacob Hoffman, a senior majoring in Natural Resources at Montana State University, worked for George Neuberger as a Natural Resource Specialist in the Land Branch this summer. He was busy collecting field data and developing a GIS data base which will be used to manage recreation related signs and public recreation structures and facilities.

Morgan Clapshaw is working on her Civil Engineering degree at Montana State University. Last year she served her internship at DKAO in Bismark. This year she assisted WYAO with daily water operations in the Water Management Branch under Art Hill. Her duties included making stream flow measurements, and updating stream gauge safety manuals. In addition, she assisted the Technical Analysis Branch.

Mike Bradford, the Safety Manager at WYAO, had the assistance of Sedona Rockwood. She is a junior at University of Wyoming majoring in Chemical Engineering. Sedona conducted an assessment of the Hazardous Communication Program (HAZCOM) at WYAO, updating Safety Data Sheets, and ensuring proper hazardous materials storage requirements are being observed.

In addition, one of the Pathways Program graduates started their federal career with a full time engineering position in the Technical Analysis Branch of the Facilities Management Division at WYAO. Nathan Morgan, a graduate of the Civil Engineering Program at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Washington served as a Pathways intern in DKAO in 2014 and WYAO in 2015. "My Pathways internship exposed me to a great amount of engineering mixed with hands on experience and it provided me with a good job upon graduation."

The new crop of interns kept busy assisting with a variety of tasks related to their specialty fields. The interns were paid while they honed their skills and broadened their work experience. And, in some cases, the internships have become a springboard to permanent positions in Reclamation.

Wyoming interns during the Pathways tour at Buffalo Bill Dam.

Published on October 03, 2016