LFHS Students Intern at Brownsville PUB

by Ronnie Zamora/LFCISD

Eight Los Fresnos High School seniors are gaining real-world experience as interns at the Brownsville Public Utilities Board.

The students are taking the Work-Based Learning Internships course taught by Larry Treviño. Students attend morning classes and leave campus at 1 p.m. each day to work about two hours at BPUB. They return to campus by 4 p.m.

“The need exists to offer an experience to young people in our communities that gives them a glimpse into their own potential,” BPUB General Manager/CEO John S. Bruciak said.

“An internship, wherever it may be, is an opportunity to explore what types of careers are out there. Exposing students to this early can help them find out what their interests may be or where their career path may take them.”

The course is a practicum in Business Management part of the Business Pathway curriculum.

The eight students work in five departments:

David Chavez: Human Resources – assisting with applicant screening, filing time sheets, learning about the hiring process
Catherine Maestro: Public Relations and Communications – assisting in graphic design projects for BPUB Adopt-an-Angel with Tip of Texas Family Outreach and Friendship of Women Christmas project, BPUB veterans celebration graphics, designing posters for the BPUB Project SHARE Scholarship

Alexys Ramirez: Customer Service – learning how to write customer correspondence (business writing).
Christian Camarillo: Water/Wastewater Engineering – learning the new modeling software called Bentley Systems modeling software and also AutoCAD Civil 3D

Luis Garza: Key Account Marketing – assisting our Key Accounts team by creating a marketing profile about BPUB key accounts customers.
William Elizondo, Hugo Garcia, and Thomas Villanueva: Analytical Lab – Learning how to do water analysis, assisting in analysis for calcium and chlorides, learning how to prepare lab paperwork, learning to read lab analytical tests.

Garcia is one of three students gaining experience in the Analytical Lab. “I work with water samples involving chloride levels and hardness levels,” he said. “We also fill up preservatives and store them.”

BPUB is not new to offering internships to high school students. Brownsville Independent School District did internships at BPUB the 1990s.

“I make sure all of the measurements on properties are correct,” said Camarillo, who works in Water and Wastewater Engineering.

“I have to make sure that if somebody wants to buy a property, that the property is not on a PUB easement so that the construction workers don’t hit any pipes or electrical wires.”