Cirrus Design Corporation has chosen seven Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WITC) Superior students for paid internships in their experimental department.  The students, who come from WITC’s Welding, Machine Tool and Marketing programs are: Regina Doller, Eric Peterson, Mike Leskela, Tom Gralewski, Mark McDonald, Reuben Clemmer and Dan Bores. 

This is the first time Cirrus Design and WITC have partnered for student internships and both the students and the instructors are thrilled.  Machine Tool instructor, Jon Willoughby, states, “This internship with Cirrus is a really nice opportunity for students to get real world experience at a very progressive company.” 

Mark McDonald, a 2^nd year machine tool student enthused, “Cirrus Design is a pretty cool place to work.  Its really good experience, and once you’re out of school, it’s definitely going to make a difference having that on your resume!” 

Regina Doller, a welding student, was chosen based on an essay she submitted explaining why she would want to work for Cirrus Design Corporation.  Regina is very excited about the internship stating, “This is an opportunity for me to broaden my horizons and get some great experience!” 

Dan Bores, who holds a computer networking degree and is pursuing a marketing degree, began the internship thinking he wanted to own his own business.  This real life experience has changed his perspective, “Now that I’ve had a taste of working with a big corporation it sounds just as rewarding and more feasible.”

The internship program came about thanks to the efforts of Welding Instructor John Palmer and Dick Showalter, the Director of Experimental Engineering at Cirrus Design.  Palmer, who obtained his training at Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, has worked with the corporation in the past, providing aerospace welding training for employees within the experimental department.  Palmer has spent two years trying to get the internship program off the ground and says, “It’s really satisfying to see all this finally come to fruition.  This is such a great opportunity for our students, not only to get on the job experience, but also to get it at such a high profile, internationally respected corporation. 

Dick Showalter of Cirrus Design Corporation is pleased with the internship program with WITC Superior.  He states, "All the students I've met from W.I.T.C. have been very impressive. They're polite, hard working, and very thoughtful on how their job affects others. I have no doubt that this trend will continue and the internship program for both parties will be a great success". 

Mary Tripp, Marketing instructor sums it up with a smile, “Big things come in technical packages.”

Cirrus, headquartered in Duluth, MN, is the recognized global leader in the manufacturing of personal transportation aircraft and dominates the market in high performance, single-engine four-place airplanes.