Internship Partnership with First Workings

This past summer we hosted Shergy Wyco and Yusuf Fashanu at Collab. 

It was our pleasure to work with these incredibly smart and hard working students.  A big Thank you to First Workings for collaborating with us and for all the work you do to increase opportunity and access for underserved communities.  We miss these Shergy and Yusuf, as they brought a lot of fantastic energy, creativity and warmth to our community. The work we did with Yusuf and Shergy was not only good for them, it was good for us as well. We were able to begin developing a new program centered around teaching computer vision and physical computing. These two are really awesome students who will go very far in their career.

We were very moved by the letters they wrote about working at Collab. Here are some of the highlights:

Yusuf

“I really appreciated the fact that we were allowed to do hands-on work instead of just sitting at a desk the whole time. I also really enjoyed getting a chance to come up with my own project and actually creating it using the different power tools. Getting the chance to use the laser cutter was a really fun experience and through learning how to use these different tools gave me the knowledge that I could potentially utilize in my college career. I have also learned many other things that I will take with me. For example, I learned the process that Collab goes through to create different products for their clients. I also learned the different stages that one has to go through to create something; I could definitely use this skill in college as a mechanical engineer. Through interviewing people from Collab, I have also learned about many other things and how people do their jobs, and what they do. Getting a chance to get advice from fulfilled adults was really crucial for me and well appreciated.”

Yusuf Fashanu

Shergy

"I enjoyed learning about what the other people at Collab pursued. Talking to them sparked an interest in different areas such as paper engineering and mechanical engineering. I also enjoyed the hands-on project that we had and I learned how to use the different tools in the wood shop to create a prototype and the final product. Even though I learned some circuitry in Physics, it was different in Collab because I was able to create one myself. Collab was a learning experience for me. There were so many topics that we talked about with other people in the workplace that were just so mind-blowing. For example, Rob’s inventions were really unique and there were mechanisms that I didn’t even know about, such as gears. I learned new things from each person. A work environment that nurtures creativity and allows for space to learn is the place for me, for everyone. I wish we had more time to complete our project, but we only had two weeks there. We made the most of it and it was worth it.  

You told us to pursue whatever we were interested in learning. I thought I needed to find my major as soon as I get to college, but talking to you let me know that I could take my time. Take all the classes that interests me and find out throughout the way. That’s how I will proceed onto college, I’m gonna take that ‘wisdom’ with me. The internship as a whole was a learning experience. I keep emphasizing how much we learned because it’s true! Yusuf and I learned a lot, and I believe that is the point of internship." 

Shergy Wyco