RJ Tinsley is one month into his summer-long paid internship at Micron, and the experience is even better than he could have imagined. "I've loved every second here so far. Not only has Micron been great to me, the city, geography, climate, and population of young professionals here have been amazing."
Tinsley is one of eight Onondaga Community College students working at Micron in Boise, Idaho this summer. And there are three more OCC students doing paid internships at Micron in Manassas, Virginia. All eleven are enrolled in technology-related courses of study, including the Micron-inspired Electromechanical Technology degree program which was created in time for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The eleven students have a broad range of educational backgrounds. Two graduated from high school just last month and were attending OCC as part of the Pathways in Technology Early College High School program, which is commonly referred to as P-TECH. At the opposite end of the spectrum are students like Tinsley who earned four-year degrees before enrolling in Electromechanical Technology.
Will Appleton is one of the P-TECH students. He's a 2024 graduate of Central Square High School who is majoring in Electrical Technology. At Micron in Manassas, Virginia, he's working as an Equipment Technician for Metrology. "The experience of leaving home for this internship has been amazing. P-TECH helped prepare me for this opportunity, and I definitely feel I'm on the right path. This internship has motivated me to take my education seriously."
Tinsley arrived in Idaho at the end of May and will be there until the start of the fall semester. He's working as a Process Technician in the Remote Operation Center, and lessons learned in his Statistical Process Control class helped him right away. "We regularly look at control limit charts and I am extremely grateful for Professor (Tracey) Clancy for doing such a great job at preparing me for my role. As soon as they opened the charts, I immediately knew what I was looking at and felt great relief that I could understand the information that was being presented."
His time at Micron has also given Tinsley the opportunity to discuss career options with his supervisor. "He told me his main goal with the interns is for each of us to figure out if this is for us, network with people, figure out what direction we want to take in the company, and set up a plan to execute the path."
When he's not working Tinsley enjoys learning the Boise area and seeing unique places like Table Rock with its stunning mountain top views, along with hiking and biking trails. Idaho is also well known for its high quality potatoes thanks to its combination of warm days, cool nights, and rich volcanic soil. During his first day at Micron the interns were treated to a free lunch which included a bag of homemade chips. "They were the best potatoes I have ever tasted in my life. I have yet to figure out where they came from and I'm not coming back home until I do!"
