From Internship to Apprenticeship: The Journey of a USCA Student

Bjorn Alejandro Esoinosa De La Hoz, a junior Mechanical Engineering major, was strongly influenced by his family when choosing his career path, as many of his relatives work in the engineering field.

With the assistance of the University of South Carolina’s (USCA) Career Services Office and practice mock interviews he landed an internship at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) over the past summer. He had a great first impression of the company when attending the USCA’s annual Career Fair as well as having a chance to network.

During his time at SRNS as an Operations Intern, he worked in the Environmental Cleanup area and had the support of a mentor to guide him around the site and give him a better understanding of how each project works. Some of his coordinating duties were looking over engineering groups, attending meetings, and assigning the proper groups to the fire protection sectors.

“You are not expected to know everything once you graduate,” Alejandro says. “Even some professionals don’t know the exact solutions to problems, so they rely on their coworkers and ask around to find the best results.”

Knowing that SRNS was a future job prospect for him after graduation, Alejandro knew the importance of making connections during his internship to further benefit from those in the future.

Due to his performance during the internship, as well as his networking efforts, Alejandro was selected to complete an apprenticeship during the 2024-2025 academic year.

He was one of a select few out of a large internship pool to be placed in this role, transitioning from an Operations Intern to a Fire Protection Engineering Apprentice. He is currently working on a long-term project with a team of Fire Protection Engineers, expected to finish it by the time he graduates.

When asked about his long-term goals, he plans to continue working while obtaining a Masters at USCA.

For more information, contact USCA Marketing & Communication at news@usca.edu.