SWEG’s internship program teaches innovation, technology to local college-bound students

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — For many students, a common question they hear in their high school years is “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

For teens with dreams to pursue technology, a chance to get a head start in the industry exists here in Houston County, thanks to Robins Air Force Base. A paid summer internship program organized by the base’s 402nd Software Engineering Group (SWEG) and Air Logistics Complex gives graduating high school students this opportunity.

Students can return for a second summer and further their skills, with roughly 85% choosing to do so. Then, on the third year of the internship, students work directly with the SWEG to gain valuable hands-on experience.

Roughly 30 students are chosen each year from Houston, Bibb and Jones County high schools, gathering at the base’s Project Synergy building in Warner Robins. Brian Woods, technical advisor for the SWEG, has been teaching in the program for two years, giving guidance in not only the technical side of coding and engineering, but also soft skills like teamwork and problem solving.

“We’re teaching them things that they’re not going to learn in college. College teaches you the book answer. We try to put some real life experience into it, but also teach them the life skills, the communication skills, that they’re not necessarily going to get in college or they’re not going to use [in college,] but they’re going to use in the workforce,” Woods said.

The initiative is also evolving to the needs of its tech-savvy students.

“What we’re finding is the students are coming to us a lot more prepared. They have more computer programming skills already, but we’re fine-tuning those and then adding more difficulty to our program,” Woods said.

With a software and engineering team of their own, the internship also helps garner interest in their line of work, preparing young engineers for a career at the base, according to Woods.

“When they first come in to us in their senior year of high school, we already start to get our hands on them and give them those skills that they need. Then, when they come back to us after college, and during the college internship, we give them more skills. Then, they’re ready. They’re more prepared once they start working full time with us,” Woods said.

Making an impact locally is also a valuable experience for Woods.

“I feel great being able to have a hands-on experience with our future coders and future engineers and also a touch on the local community,” Woods said. “All these kids are local, from the Macon, Houston County, Bibb County area. So, it feels great to be able to keep these kids local and also keep them keep them with us at Robins Air Force Base.”

Local high school students submit an essay and resume for consideration. Once they are selected, they get to work in programs called Python and GIT, such as the case with first-year students Philip Cox and Jazmyn Revels.

Cox was interested in the internship after hearing about it from his father, who heard about it during a State of the Base event. Wanting to get a head start on coding before he goes to college, he joined the program and believes he made the right decision.

“I just found it really interesting that they had this here and so far, it’s been everything that I’ve thought it was going to be,” Cox said.

Revels was friends with an intern in the program, and admitted she was intimidated at first, but decided to take the opportunity after hearing her friend’s experience. For her, application of the skills she has learned, rather than just memorization, is most valuable.

“The best part of the internship for me has been learning how to actually learn. Not just remember and repeat information, but actually learning how to problem solve, like, if this doesn’t work, what else can I try?” Revels said.

Cox agreed; he plans to use concepts and soft skills learned during the internship as he furthers his studies.

“Now that I’ve gone through this, I’ve been able to recognize that I need to be able to study and learn and not just put it down on paper, but apply it to other things,” Cox said.

For Revels, the coding is important, but also the soft skills she has learned along the way.

“The soft skills has been the biggest thing for me,” Revels said. “Learning how to not just tolerate being in an environment with so many people that are different from me, but rather embracing those differences and using those differences to become a better learner, a better teacher and just a better person overall.”

After their first year of college, Xavier Genio, a Computational Media student at Georgia Tech, and Brandon Boone, a Computer Engineering student at Kennesaw State University, both took the chance to further their skills.

Boone returned for the networking opportunities, while Genio returned to learn more in the fields of software and hardware. Reflecting on her freshman year, Genio said the internship helped her prepare for the workload.

“Personally, it worked to help with my teamwork abilities and collaboration skills. It also helped me in my [courses,] when I do long winded projects. So, it really helped me to cope with it, and learn how to deal with it,” Genio said.

Boone said both technical and soft skills helped tremendously in his first year of college.

“It really helped with my people skills. You know, you learn to collaborate with many different types of people. And it also helps with me academically, taking my computer science classes. It helped to just get a head start, ahead of all of my peers in school,” Boone said.

With a clearer picture of what she wants to pursue, Genio said her favorite part so far has been meshing software and hardware together. Specifically, a project undertaken by students has them program a remote-controlled car to automatically recognize colors and select them on their own.

“The best experience I had in the internship is combining the hardware and the software together into our smart cars, where we can use AI model training to recognize objects, and also be able to do autonomous tasks,” Genio said.

More broadly speaking, Boone has been thrilled by his progress so far.

“I would say my favorite part has just been seeing my progression over these few years. When I first came in last year, I didn’t really have a lot of coding knowledge or any type of computer knowledge at all. And now, coming into my second year, finishing up on the second year of internship, I know a whole lot more,” Boone said.

Now both Genio and Boone are confident in their skills and hope to apply them to their future.

“Moving forward, I plan to take the skills I’ve learned in this internship and put it into my college career as well as my job career and really be able to use those skills in my collaborations in terms of programming and any sort of hardware or software,” Genio said.

“I plan on just using these skills to further expand my knowledge in computing as a whole, to use these skills towards school, academic wise and to obviously come back for my third year and use them again as I keep progressing,” Boone said.

Students in Houston County, Bibb County and Jones County schools that are interested in the internship can contact their guidance counselor, where they will take them through the process, and submit their application by December.

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