Carvez was determined to excel in his internship.
“I try to put 100% into everything that I do here. When I first read the info on Rêve Academy, I thought it was completely professional attire, meaning I’d have to come in a suit and tie. I was nervous about that because in those types of jobs you can’t really have faults. But once I got here, it wasn’t that complex—and the people were really nice.
It’s given me an outlook on what I want to do in my future, because I want to be a technical engineer or designer. The technology that’s in this very room is all I need for an introduction to my career.”
I am…
// 16
// Athletic, energetic, shy
// A student at Edison High School
I dream of…
// A career in engineering
Getting feedback on his business idea and learning the basics of 3D printing from Digiteer Carmen.
He embodied the value of Ingenuity.
“[Senior Intern] Hollis said at the beginning that our product ideas had to be innovative, within the limits of the 3D printer, and applicable to urban youth. Since I really wanted to buy a speaker but the one I saw was expensive, I thought, ‘I’ll make my own then.’ So I designed the OmniSound, which is a portable speaker that has gesture and facial recognition abilities. That way people can’t steal it or use it without your consent.
Creating the actual product was really hard. I couldn’t just say, ‘I want to create a new type of phone’, because someone else was probably thinking about the same thing. So it had to be more unique and advanced; something that nobody else had.”
Carvez and his project group at Revival, a one-day accelerator for digital professionals in the Twin Cities.
He tackled the challenge of public speaking.
“The elevator pitch was difficult for me. The fact that you’re in front of a lot of people talking for a minute…it’s a lot of time. So this experience has broken a few walls in how I feel about giving pitches. It broke a few barriers. I’ve also gotten better at being a contributor.
In my last internship, if you didn’t want to participate, you could just be quiet in the back of the room and they would move on. Here, they just throw you out there and you gotta think of something. It throws me out of my comfort zone and into a better zone.”
See the difference that Rêve Academy makes.
Carvez gained both technical and professional skills in his internship—and he didn’t have to pay a cent. In fact, we paid him a fair wage for his work each week, while he learned:
Professional skills
// Empathy
// Authenticity
// Collaboration
// Achievement
// Ingenuity
// Agility
Technical skills
// Tinkercad
// AutoCAD
// MakerBot
// Project management
// Agile development
Rêve Academy’s student interns of summer 2016.
Help students along their path.
If you have a heart for students, we have a place for you.
Become a digital volunteer and help our interns as they work on real-world projects. Or show our kids what an ordinary day looks like for a working professional. There are lots of ways to get involved, so don’t be shy—we can’t wait to meet you!