Three bright high school students just completed a successful internship at HARC through the Education for Tomorrow Alliance (EfTA) Student Internship Program. This program provides rising high school seniors with the opportunity to work with career professionals and learn outside the classroom. EfTA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating education and community partnerships that advance student success. HARC and EfTA have worked together for several years to provide high school students with the experience of working in an office environment to develop business skills.
This year, Shriya Balasubramaniam from College Park ISD, and Madison Custer and Leslie Benitez from Oak Ridge ISD, took part in the Student Internship Program at HARC. These rising stars worked in HARC’s offices throughout the month of June on projects related to HARC’s research areas and business operations.
At the end of their internship, they shared a presentation about their experience with an audience of HARC and EfTA staff, and their family members. All three students offered insights into the projects they worked on and what they will take away from their experience as interns at HARC.
HARC interviewed these rising stars to find out more about them and showcase the skills they learned during their time at HARC.
Shriya Balasubramaniam
What did you work on during your internship?
I worked with HARC’s Clean Energy team on the Department of Energy’s Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership (CHP TAP) project. I helped them with the project newsletter, posting on the CHP TAP LinkedIn Page, and updating project profiles. I also learned how to use software tools, like ReOpt, to check if facilities like schools were compatible with clean energy solutions.
What was your favorite part about the internship?
The actual, hands-on experience I received at HARC. I thought I might only be getting people coffee, but I really felt like HARC had a lot of trust in me to actually contribute to projects – which was a really nice surprise.
What are you most proud of?
The connections I’ve made during these four weeks are high up on the list. I got the chance to learn more about HARC’s different researchers and their backgrounds, and through it all, I got to learn more about myself, too.
What’s next for you?
I still have to finish my senior year of high school and start college applications, and I’m about to start marching band practice. In this Texas heat, it’s going to be difficult! I have always been interested in studying chemical engineering, but working at HARC exposed me to the clean energy sector for the first time. Now, I am considering pursuing a major in chemical engineering with an emphasis in environmental science.
Leslie Benitez
What did you work on during your internship?
I worked with HARC’s Water Research team on the Galveston Bay Report Card, helping to provide a list of more accessible activities that communities in Galveston can do to help Galveston Bay. I also worked on the Resilience Science Information Network (RESIN) Portal of the Upper Texas Gulf Coast to help make it more accessible for the general public. I created more FAQs, clarified definitions, and provided descriptive labels of text to help people who might be visually impaired better access the information.
What was your favorite part about the internship?
I really enjoyed how much I learned on the job. I found out what factors contribute to pollution, for example. I didn’t know what they were before. I had already been interested in environmental science, so getting the opportunity to learn the science behind it has been awesome.
What are you most proud of?
This internship gave me the opportunity to come out of my shell a little bit more. I am an introvert, so having to talk to the different HARC teams and give a presentation in front of the whole organization was a big deal for me.
What’s next for you?
I also have my senior year coming up, along with applying for colleges. I would like to pursue engineering and my experience at HARC just confirmed my interest in this area.
Madison Custer
What did you work on during your internship?
I worked with HARC’s Business Administration team on finance and HR projects. I got to carry out research into new payroll options for HARC, checked that staff submitted timesheets on time, and completed checks to make sure that credit card statements matched spending and day-to-day payments cleared.
What was your favorite part about the internship?
Working at HARC gave me the opportunity to see whether working in accounting is what I want to do. The four-week internship gave me more exposure and time to learn about accounting, which I really appreciated.
What are you most proud of?
Like Leslie, the internship helped me be more social. I was also proud of all the research I got to do for HARC.
What’s next for you?
Like Shriya and Leslie, I also have my last year of high school to finish and college applications to start putting together. I’m a golfer, so before I start my senior year, I’ll be playing a lot of golf tournaments in July. My internship at HARC confirmed my love of numbers and my interest in studying accounting in college, too.
HARC thanks Shriya, Leslie, and Madison for all their hard work, and we wish them all the very best in the next stage of their professional journeys!
To learn more about HARC’s research, visit HARC’s Clean Energy Research and HARC’s Water Research.
To learn more about EfTA, visit www.efta-us.org.
