Engineering firm gives interns power

Tucked away on a back road in Winter Springs, Fla., Power Grid Engineering could easily go unnoticed.

But, for five UCF students, the company is providing the opportunity they've been looking for.

"I love interning at Power Grid Engineering. It's a small company with a family-like atmosphere and an eye for quality. I couldn't ask for anything more," Esme Doucette said.

Power Grid Engineering was started in 2007 as a private firm and now works with companies all around the country providing electrical engineering services.

Doucette, 21, majoring in advertising and public relations, works in marketing. She does her best to get the company's name out through awards, blogging and improving visibility at conferences. While doing this, Doucette gains experience in business writing, researching and working with different kinds of people.

She works alongside UCF alumni and vice president of business development, Andre Uribe, to develop a public relations department. Doucette says she is currently looking into designing a new display and brochure for conferences.

After graduation, Doucette is hoping to move to Atlanta with her best friend and find a job with a small or mid-sized public relations firm.

Rafael Irastorza, 26, is another senior intern looking to expand PGE's presence. Irastorza works with both Uribe and the director of marketing. Irastorza is currently analyzing the competition's business strategies using methods he learned while at UCF.

"I strongly believe that I'm reinforcing the knowledge I have gained in the College of Business Administration courses because I'm applying to my job several techniques I've learned in school projects," Irastorza said.

After graduating, Irastorza hopes to work for a multinational corporation in the strategy and business development department as a competitive intelligence analyst.

Unlike Irastorza and Doucette, Caitlin Liggett, 22, has nothing set in stone for her future, but she is hoping to work as an industrial engineer at an amusement park or in manufacturing.

Liggett, a junior, is studying industrial engineering at both UCF and Valencia and has been with PGE for three years.

"I've had the pleasure to be with the company as we have grown from a handful of employees, working out of the officers homes, to having an office as well as relay technicians throughout the country working out in the field, and we keep growing" Liggett said.

During her time at PGE, Liggett has picked up a pair of different roles, mainly as a computer-aided design (CAD) drafter and an industrial engineering intern. Liggett assists the engineers and technicians with anything involving AUTOCAD.

Some of her duties include drafting a marked-up drawing, checking both her own and other drafters' work and matching standards for a client's project through each drawing. Since every client has different standards, matching the requirements of each client can be difficult, Liggett says.

As an industrial engineering intern, Liggett is working on a procedure manual that details a standard of processes used throughout the company. This has been a learning process for her and the officers at the company.

Liggett feels that experience in two different fields will help her later on in her career, and she is grateful for the opportunities PGE has given her.

Not only is PGE giving these students a great place to work and learn; it is also providing flexible hours for students who are going to school full time and working.

"While I'm attending school and working two jobs, PGE allows my schedule to be flexible and change throughout the different semesters at school," Liggett said.

According to Doucette, PGE also gives back to the community by hiring students from UCF.

Irastorza cites his education at UCF, as well as UCF's focus on teamwork, as two of the main reasons he was hired as an intern.

"Power Grid Engineering acknowledges the value of teamwork. This is an important principle that UCF believes in," Irastorza said.