Seba, an Automotive Technology major, interned at Mercedes Benz Lancaster over the summer.

Mercedes Benz Lancaster offers new and pre-owned Mercedes Benz models from the entire lineup.

How did you find out about your internship?

I learned about the internship opportunity from the job fair at the Transportation Center in February. I wasn’t originally planning on taking on a job over the summer, but the offer came to me and I couldn’t refuse a step into my future.

What does your day-to-day look like at the internship?

My day-to-day is different each day. Sometimes my mentor and I finish a job we didn’t complete the day before, and other days we start fresh with a new responsibility. At times we mainly focus on diagnosing cars. My mentor does his best to teach from a distance, but he also is there to help me as I need it.

What is something you were surprised to learn about in your time as an intern?

I noticed working in the field was different than I thought it would be, which surprised me. I also found it very interesting to see people from all walks of life working in the same field and enjoying what they do.

What’s been something challenging about your internship?

I am an automotive technician and occasionally it was challenging to keep up with the other, more experienced technicians.

What’s been the best thing about your internship experience?

The best thing about the experience has been all the people I work alongside. Having good people surround you all day and helping you really make working more enjoyable.

Tell a story about something that happened once as part of your internship.

We had an electric car come in, completely dead. So we had to push it into the shop with a jumper pack on it so we could disable the parking brake. My mentor was steering since it had no power steering. I was pushing the car with a car pusher – a brand-new car with only 400 miles on it. We were pushing it backward down a hill, and I’m pushing it quickly, and it went so fast that the car automatically slammed on the brakes. The car pusher went up onto the front of the car, scratching the grill, and it jammed into my stomach. The thing in my brain on repeat is to never scratch a car. And it happened to me about a month into the internship!  Everyone I worked with was concerned about me and assured me that a grill can be replaced but a person cannot. The replacement cost for the grill was several hundred dollars and the company covered the replacement cost. Now the scratched grill is hanging in the shop.

Would you recommend seeking out an internship to other students at Thaddeus Stevens College? Why or why not?

I would definitely recommend seeking an internship in your field as a first-year student. I feel like I have learned more in the past couple of months working directly in the industry than I had in labs – even though I learned a lot in my labs! I also think being in the field early helps your chances at a better or similar job after graduation.

How do you think this experience will help your future?

I think this experience will help me since I already put my foot forward into my career. My place of work knows who I am and how I work so that in the future if I would like to stay with the company I can, or if I don’t, they can help me by writing a good letter of recommendation for my next job.