Although this is technically not a hobby of mine, it is one of my non-extracurricular (i.e. clubs and sports) endeavors. I have dedicated a good amount of time to it. Over my sophomore and junior year I have done three separate internships each with a focus on a certain type of engineering:  electrical, process, and environmental. Through these  internships, I have had valuable experience in the workings of engineering as an occupation and what assignments would look like. I got these internships through a new program at Belen which matched students up with alumni in the field. The internships here are listed in the order in which I participated in them.

Internships

Thunder-Electric

In this internship I explored electrical engineering at an Electrical contracting firm called Thunder-electric. I did it during Easter break of my sophomore year. Here I was exposed to the two sides of an engineer's job (at least in the construction business): the desk job, and the on site job. The former is the largest part and entails the design and report on the design for the client. The on site job entails monitoring the work of the contractor, which is a job done mostly by inspectors but also by engineers. I learned a lot in both jobs, in the first I learned the theory of electrical design, including things like the power triangle and the terminology of electrical drawings. In the second part, I learned the practical side of electrical engineering. So I learned things such as how cables are laid and secured, the mechanisms of electrical systems, etc.

Costa Farms

Here I worked with their mechanical engineering division on several projects. Primarily I worked with the engineers there in optimizing their plotting, shipping and irrigation system. Most of the internship was onsite working with people, however I did go to several meetings in my time there.

Note: This is not a Costa Farms green house, just the closest thing I could find in the public domain.

This was a design of a sewer system, much like the ones I was shown on site. The top drawing is the layout from the top view, the bottom is an elevation drawing.

Hazen and Sawyer

This has been my most realistic experience of engineering. In it I dealt with environmental and civil engineering, more specifically with the Miami Dade sewer system and the Atlantic Sapphire Bluehouse (a salmon growing plant projected to grow half of the US salmon market by 2031). I was tasked with a lot of clerical work, however I did have the invaluable experience of what it is like to work in an engineering firm. I also went on site in several occasions visiting the Blue house, the site of new 20-inch pipe installation, and the site of new panels for the sewer system around the city. In these on site experiences I learned a lot of the practical aspects of the water systems, specifically with regards to how they are designed and issues with As-Builts causing constant design revisions. However in the office I learned how the life of a designer was and the difficulties of working and coordinating with a variety of groups of subcontractors and the client themself. Ultimately this was my favorite one because I was able to see and work in multiple areas of an engineers job: design, oversight, and coordination of the project.