Preparing for a Summer Internship During the Height of COVID-19

by Grace Day

Hi! My name is Grace Day, and I am a senior Aerospace Engineering student here at Embry-Riddle, Prescott. On campus, I am involved in the Alpha Xi Delta sorority as the former Member Development VP, the Membership VP, and most recently the Chapter Life VP. I also am a part of the Women’s Ambassador Program as the Treasurer and former Public Relations VP. I work part time (up to 25 hours a week) as a Campus Ambassador, a tour guide, for the admissions department and I am a TA/grader for a few engineering classes. On top of my work, full engineering course load, and some sleeping, I am also still a part time intern for Lockheed Martin Space in Waterton Canyon, Colorado.

I have spent my past summers as an engineering intern at companies like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin gaining valuable experience and making lifelong friends. I spent the summers after my freshman and sophomore years in Redondo Beach, California working as a Systems Engineering Intern for Northrop Grumman and this past summer as a System Engineering Intern for Lockheed Martin up in the Denver area. I was fortunate to be able to work in person during the pandemic, however it was a much different experience than my previous internships.

For starters, I was the only intern in my area while most of my coworkers were at least a few years out of college. Many people worked part time from home, but my work required I be in the office on special computers, meaning somedays I was the only one in until lunch. I also supported a very fast paced, always changing team that focused on system architecture. Architecting a space system is not an easy thing, it requires so much background knowledge and experience, something I did not have. Before the summer started, I reached out to my manager asking what I could do to best prepare for my summer in Denver. My manager suggested I learn a program called Systems Tool Kit, or STK. The program is a modeling software for any and all types of systems from airplanes, to submarines, to spacecraft. The company offers free online training and licenses for students and professionals, so I jumped on it right away. This was all right after COVID-19 shut down our university and allowed me a bit more free time to focus on learning STK.

STK offers three levels of training from a basic understanding of the software to very specific situation-based modeling protocols. I chose to do it all. The first certification took me about one week to learn and consisted of an 8-hour exam at the end. I passed this course and moved on the intermediate level, which took me a bit longer. Right before I started the second level STK posted a blog announcing the first 100 people to pass the exam would win a free t-shirt with the logo. I jumped right into the training and after two weeks of learning I took the next 8-hour exam and passed (and got my free t-shirt).

The last certification is student’s choice where you pick four of seven categories to master. The seven track options are Track 1: STK Essentials, Track 2: Analysis Workbench, Track 3: STK Coverage, Track 4: Aircraft, Track 5: Communications, Track 6: Spacecraft Trajectory, and Track 7: Space Environment. I chose to pursue tracks 3, 5, 6 and 7 because they were most applicable to my job and my interests. It took me about 4 days to student for each one and a 4-8 hour exam at the end. As I passed each one, I got a small cube, shown in the image. One I passed all four required for the last certification, I was awarded with the large glass cube, a certificate, a pin, and a lanyard.

Glass cube options from Analytical Graphics, Inc.

From doing this course, I was extremely prepared to go into my internship as a useful employee, and help my team win many proposals. Even now as a part time intern through this school year I have been able to help out whenever I can.

I just signed my full time offer to be a System Engineer at Lockheed Martin with my same team and am very excited to be moving up there in May of 2021! It has been an amazing almost four years here at Embry-Riddle and am so happy for the education I have.

Thank you so much for reading about preparing for internship during COVID-19!

Athletics at Riddle

If you are looking for an athletic scholarship then you might want to take a look at what Embry-Riddle has to offer.  As of this year Embry-Riddle, Prescott campus has taken on men and women’s Cross Country, as well as Women’s Softball on top of the already existing sports. which include: men and women’s Golf, men and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and wrestling. Competitive scholarships exist for student-athletes who have demonstrated a superior commitment to athletics, at the same time you must meet  minimum GPA requirement.

As far as I know if you are already a student you can always tryout for a position on a team as well as compete for a scholarship. If you want more information on scholarships then I would suggest calling the director of athletics.

Competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Embry-Riddle is a proud member of the California Pacific Athletic Conference (CAL PAC).

You may contact:  928-777-3777     or     Email:

Settling Back in

After having an awesome summer break from school, it feels great to be back in Prescott, AZ at Embry-Riddle. My first year was awesome, although a relaxing summer break was most definitely in need its nice to be busy with school again.  After having a long break I feel much more prepared for school than my first year or even last semester. I can honestly say first semester especially is difficult only because it takes time to adjust and adapt to the new environment you are in.

Getting back in the role of things was pretty easy this year, maybe because I was getting slightly bored near the end of summer, longing for the school year to start. That may sound weird but it is true. Some great things about going to school at Embry-Riddle in Prescott are the people you meet.I have met people that have inspired me in may ways. It becomes very easy to adjust when you find people like that, mainly because you are all going through the same deal. Like studying the same materials or being homesick we all go through it especially here since most students are studying the art of Engineering.

This year I live on campus, in the upperclassmen dorms. There are ups and downs to living on campus. On the plus you can take naps in the middle of the day, and walk all of one minute to the gym, and being in a close proximity of a lot of your friends makes things easier. On the downside you are always on campus. You will go crazy if you do not keep yourself busy with other things besides school. I have to say that is the biggest part of going to school or living at school in general is keeping you’re self distracted with other things. It helps you stay motivated in the middle of the year.

But back to settling in, the first year may seem somewhat crazy but the time management skills come in time, some sooner then others, it took me almost a full year. When you learn to use your time wisely, life as a college student becomes much more enjoyable. That is all I have for this blog, let me know if you have any questions.