Niskayuna High School Senior Intern Spotlight

As our society becomes ever more technologically advanced, the demand for employees with tech backgrounds grows exponentially and those recognizing the needs of the future are preparing today. Niskayuna High School senior Tristan Adrian is building the foundation for his future tech career with an internship here at the Innovative Test Solutions (ITS) lab in Schenectady.

Through Niskayuna High School’s Career Exploration Internship Program (CEIP) Tristan will spend more than 50 hours over the course of the school year shadowing ITS engineers and technicians as they perform state-of-the-art tests for the automotive, aeronautic, and power generation industries to name a few.

What sets ITS apart from many testing labs is that many test rigs use are fabricated in house, which means Tristan is being exposed to not only the mechanical testing ITS conducts, but also the innovative engineering that delivers the most precise results possible.

Tristan became interested in engineering his freshman year when he was given the choice between a traditional art class or taking intro to tech. His natural curiously for how mechanical objects work steered him towards intro to tech, and as objects in motion tend to stay in motion, so did his love for STEM.

This led Tristan to pursue an internship with ITS after listening to a presentation at his school on its CEIP and the opportunities it offered to explore career interests with local businesses.

Tristan said, “I really like the hands-on aspect of ITS’s testing. They don’t just rely upon computer modeling. To see the test rigs at work and how the samples perform gives an understanding and appreciation that you can’t obtain from a computer simulation.”

With graduation just a few months away Tristan plans on pursuing his STEM studies at either Union, RIT, or Clarkson – with his top choice being Union College in Schenectady.

“I hope to be able to pursue my studies in my hometown and build a career and life here,” Tristan added. “ITS is the type of place I would love to continue to intern at and one day work for full-time.”