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My name is Irene, and I am a recent graduate of Spain Park High School in Hoover, Alabama. I participated in the competitive Alabama Data Scholars summer internship program made possible by QuantHub with support from Innovate Alabama and partnering employers statewide.
My 8 week internship took place at BBT Connects, a technical services company based in Birmingham, and it was incredibly rewarding! I gained hands-on experience setting up security cameras for a client. I also worked on bringing power to the cameras without overloading the stream and successfully resolved issues using Power over Ethernet (PoE). I was given assignments to fix minor issues that were affecting our data visualization, enabling us to access accurate information from our client’s data, and I had the opportunity to work with Grafana and Druid, which are used for data collection and cleaning for data visualization.
Interning at BBT Connects has been an eye-opening experience for me, as it highlighted the critical need for data and AI skills in government and organizational settings. It has made me realize how these skills can aid in predicting and making better decisions. As someone planning to major in cybersecurity engineering, this internship has equipped me with new skills and problem-solving abilities that will be helpful in securing networks.
My experience with the Data Scholars program has been invaluable, not only in connecting me with an industry internship but also in providing opportunities to learn from professors and speakers about post-high school prospects and ongoing skills development.
Working with my mentor, Isis Ramirez, has been an honor. We share common experiences as first-born children and as immigrants, and I have found her inspirational as a successful woman in the tech field! She has opened my eyes to possibilities for my future. Additionally, I was able to balance this internship with another, and I am grateful for BBT Connects’ understanding, support, and flexibility.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to QuantHub for providing me with this opportunity. “Thank you” is not enough to convey my gratitude for the new topics I have been introduced to in our Zoom meetings, especially the skill-building workshops, which were my favorite part of the program!
