Desert Hot Springs High School students graduate energy internship

For the first time, the Palm Springs Unified School District partnered with CPV Sentinel to give students a hands on experience of what it’s like to work at a power plant. On Wednesday, the students graduated from their internship.

“I hope that when future employers look at my resume they see that I have job experience and I have school experience and they’ll want to hire me,” said Desert Hot Springs High School senior, Jenyffer Mejiamendoza.

All of the students who graduated are seniors part of Desert Hot Springs High School’s Renewable Energy Academy of Learning (REAL).

Mark McDaniels, Vice President of CPV Sentinel, and his team worked with students one on one over the course of ten weeks.

“They arrived here with quite a higher than average level of mechanical aptitude,” said McDaniels.

He described a typical day on the job.

“They did everything from working on the gas turbines to working on water systems,” he explained. “They were literally involved with all the different systems at the plant.”

According to the students, their favorite part was working on the plant’sGE LMS 100, which is an engine similar to that of a 747 aircraft.

“Just working around that stuff has really been an honor,” said another graduate of the internship, Joseph Facer.

They plan to continue the internship next year, too. CPV Sentinel also gave out $1,000 college scholarships to four of the students.