PADUCAH, Ky. - When Logan Mitchell first walked onto the grounds of EM’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in the summer of 2017 as a college junior, he was uncertain about his chosen degree and career plans.
After completing a 10-week college internship with a Paducah EM contractor, however, his future path became more clear.
“Going into my internship last year, I was slightly worried about business administration being too broad a major. However, many people at the Paducah Site assured me that they had also majored in this area, and it had proven helpful to them at various points in their careers," Mitchell said.
The mentor component of the EM internship added value to Mitchell’s experience. He says it played a significant role in his desire to apply to intern at the site again in 2018.
Mitchell noted that while many of his friends were also doing internships in programs across the Commonwealth, the program established by EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) included leadership and educational experiences that many of his peers had not been offered in their positions.
“My internship experience was very different from my friends," Mitchell said. “The DOE program included a lot of speakers, and our mentors were devoted to helping us grow. I wanted another opportunity to learn from them."
This summer, Mitchell is working under the guidance of PPPO’s deactivation and remediation contractor, Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP), in the business services division. He is a senior at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.
“The students employed through the summer internship program are some of the top students in our region," said Jennifer Woodard, EM’s Paducah Site lead for PPPO. “The experience they receive while working with people at the Paducah Site will help provide opportunities in their future careers. DOE is happy to be part of their education experience and journey toward a meaningful career."
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
