Four Hinds Community College students will spend the summer in Mount Vernon, Ill., as part of an internship program at Continental Tire.
Hinds Community College students Samuel Williams, front left, and Mack Pope are among four receiving a paid internship this summer to the Continental Tire plant in Mount Vernon, Ill. Back, Sherry Franklin, associate vice president for Career-Technical Education for Hinds Community College’s Rankin Campus, and Zach Morrow, Senior Project Engineer/Construction Manager for Continental Tire.
They are Raymond Campus students Mack Pope, 25, of Terry, Electronics Technology; Ken Anderson, 49, of Jackson and Dylan Canant, 20, of Pearl, both Electrical Technology students; and Rankin Campus student Samuel Williams, 22, of Jackson, Industrial Maintenance Technology.
“The students will be placed within the organization‘s maintenance department for on-the-job experience in electrical, electronic, mechanical and hydraulic systems,” said TJ McKinney, Continental’s Director of Human Relations. “We hope that this opportunity provides the professional training that they need to advance their careers.”
The four have already toured the plant they will be working at as interns.
“I had the pleasure of accompanying these students to Mount Vernon for their interviews and was very impressed with how they interacted with the Continental Team,” said David Creel, district Director of Manufacturing Training. “There is no doubt in my mind that these fine young men will represent themselves, Hinds Community College, and their programs very well. I am excited for this opportunity for them and for what this successful internship program will mean to students in the future.”
Pope has been a Hinds student for about five years but he was having trouble finding his niche until he discovered the Electronics Technology program on the Raymond Campus. He had been accepted into the radiology program but discovered he didn’t want to work in a hospital.
“I’ve been taking things apart since I was five years old, since I got my first screwdriver,” he said. “And I found the electronics program, which interested me the most out of all the technical programs.
The Continental internship program “is definitely a good opportunity. I’m really looking forward to it,” Pope said.
The internship program focuses on Hinds’ Industrial Maintenance Technology, Electrical Technology and Electronics Technology programs. It is a nine-week, paid summer program that provides the four students with scholarships and specialized training at the company’s tire plant in Mount Vernon, Ill.
Beginning June 5, the interns will be placed with maintenance and engineering experts for on-the-job experience in electrical, electronic, mechanical and hydraulic systems. Over the course of the program, interns will learn to:
- Install and maintain piping
- Troubleshoot and repair various control devices, motors, and electronic devices
- Establish, maintain and follow-up on the plant’s lubrication schedule
- Perform machinist tasks
- Assist in start-up of equipment for production
Williams, 22, has been pulling As and making the Dean’s List on the Rankin Campus over the last year since he was able to complete a one-week rigorous academic study program last summer at Hinds called “Project YOU,” which, in his words, rolled “16 weeks of work all into one week. By Wednesday I thought I was going to quit.”
However, he got through the program successfully, finishing second. “It changed me tremendously – making me better, making me a better person, a better man, making me not be another statistic,” he said.
His next step was to tackle the Industrial Maintenance program on the Rankin Campus last fall. “I have been succeeding ever since,” he said.
Williams is ready to leave any time for the Continental summer internship. “This is a new chapter of my life. I can’t wait. I’m ready to get there right now,” he said.
Sherry Franklin, associate vice president for Career-Technical Education and CTE Dean for the Rankin Campus, said the goal is to respond to industry and community needs.
“The Continental internship opportunity being given to our students is just one example of how we are preparing our students for positive placement as we support economic development in the state,” she said.
Construction on a $1.45 billion plant on more than 900 acres near Clinton began in November and is expected to be completed in 2019.
Continental will use the internship program to develop its emerging workforce in Mississippi. Maintenance technicians will be some of the first positions filled when hiring begins in the Clinton-based commercial vehicle tire plant in late 2018. As one of the key roles in Continental’s daily operations, maintenance technicians are responsible for both reactive and preventative maintenance of equipment throughout the facility.
The Maintenance Technician Internship Program will run June 5 through Aug. 4.
Four Hinds CC students awarded Continental Tire internships.
Hinds Community College is celebrating its 100th year of Community Inspired Service in 2017. Hinds opened in September 1917 first as an agricultural high school and admitted college students for the first time in 1922, with the first class graduating in 1927. In 1982 Hinds Junior College and Utica Junior College merged, creating the Hinds Community College District. Today, as Mississippi’s largest community college, Hinds Community College is a comprehensive institution with six locations. Hinds offers quality, affordable educational opportunities with academic programs of study leading to seamless university transfer and career and technical programs teaching job-ready skills. To learn more, visit www.hindscc.edu or call 1.800.HindsCC.
