2005 Winter Newsletter.p65 - Saturday Academy

Saturday y Academ
cademy
Featured Mentor
Robert Brown: Nine years and
counting
By Bill Neill
Simon handling everything Robert throws at him
ASE mentors
stick around!
Mentors who have
volunteered
...between 10 and
15 years: 13
...between 5 and
9 years: 32
Nine years ago, engineer Robert
Brown of Rockwell Collins Flight
Dynamics discovered a secret:
there’s no telling what a motivated
high school student can do in a
summer.
Nine years ago was Brown’s first
experience with Saturday Academy’s
Apprentices in Science & Engineering
(ASE) program, which matches high
schoolers with scientists for summer
apprenticeships. And today, nine
years later, he still mentors a new
apprentice every summer.
In today’s high-tech industry, nine
years is an eternity. What is it about
ASE that keeps Robert coming back?
One reason Robert participates in
ASE is that by giving high school
students an all-too-rare glimpse of
the real world, he is helping his whole
industry by encouraging the
workforce of the future. “The point of
the program is to give [the students]
an experience that is real,” Robert
says, “It is all about finding out what
science and engineering is like in the
working world, and being able to
direct your education where you know
you want to go.” Past apprenticeships
have inspired students to go on to
engineering or science programs at
some of the top universities in the
country.
The second reason Robert
participates is more immediate: his
apprentices are excellent workers.
For example, last summer’s
apprentice was Simon Nguyen. Brown
gave him what he diplomatically
describes as “a fairly daunting task.”
What was the task? “To build a robot
to align a microdisplay in a projector.”
By the end of the summer, “he got it
working,” Brown said. “What he put
together, we are using.”
This happy ending is not surprising.
Brown chose Simon using the same
criteria he uses for hiring professional
engineers. “These kids are bright,” he
said. “At their age they have
accomplished far more than I did at
that time.”
Is he ever nervous about bringing a
high school student into his high tech
business? “I’m never worried about
the apprentices I choose,” Brown
said. “I ‘worry’ about giving them an
assignment that will challenge them.
They can handle anything I throw at
them.”
As for Simon’s feelings about the
summer, he says “It was very fun.
Everyone was friendly. I was treated
like another member of the
company.”
And thanks to a strong start in ASE,
maybe he will become one someday.
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