Blue Diamond 2021 Summer Internships
In mid-June, Blue Diamond welcomed 14 college interns across all three sites for a 12-week summer internship. The goal of Blue Diamond’s Intern Program is to develop future talent through meaningful, project-based work, cohort group meetings, development sessions, team-building events, field and site tours, and regular coaching.
Our interns were involved in Manufacturing, Engineering, Innovation, R&D, Process Improvement, IT and Procurement. We are certain that the interns absorbed valuable insight into the almond industry while learning new marketable skills and developing key relationships within their teams in Sacramento, Salida, and Turlock.
As this year’s summer internships are nearing an end, I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this internship season a success. Interns are the future of food and agriculture and we’re proud to provide training and connections that help pave the road to success.
Intern Takeaways and Highlights
Alex Ochoa
UC Merced, Process Improvement Intern (Turlock)
Here at Turlock, I was working on improving slice yield. I began taking small samples of different settings to see how yield would be affected. When it came down to testing my settings across an entire PO I was happy to see that the data the was being produced was the same as the one I had collected. My lab experience from school had translated well into real-life work and my small-scale test translated well when on a big scale.
Raza Amir
Sacramento State, MPL Intern (Salida)
Having the freedom to dictate the progress of my own project will affect the companies bottom line. Being able to expand on my skills as an engineer and a communicator as well as learning new finical analysis skills.
Orlando Prado
Cal State Pomona, Engineering and Maintenance Intern (Turlock)
I enjoyed learning about BDG and the manufacturing process. I found it really interesting, I am glad I got to learn and see so much. I really like how everyone here at the Turlock plant was very welcoming and friendly. A welcoming work environment leads to a great work experience with positive work.
Leah Murray
UC San Diego, Innovation Business Strategy & Analytics (Culinary) Intern (Sacramento)
I enjoyed working closely with the agricultural industry and value Blue Diamond’s close relationships with their farmers. During my time here, I found a greater appreciation for our farmers. I always looked forward to the Intern Development Days because it was fun seeing all the other interns, talking about our projects, and being able to relate to each other. I’ve made many friends and meaningful connections during my 12 weeks at Blue Diamond.
Austin Ekizian
Sacramento State, Process Improvement Intern (Sacramento)
This was my first experience in planning, initiating, and managing a project. I looked forward to the joy of coming to work each day with great people in all aspects of the Co-op.
2021 Interns
- Alex Ochoa – UC Merced, Process Improvement Intern (Turlock)
- Orlando Prado – Cal State Pomona, Engineering and Maintenance Intern (Turlock)
- Rajanvir Chahal – Cal State Stanislaus, Manufacturing Intern (Salida)
- Raza Amir – Sacramento State, MPL Intern (Salida)
- Joelle Hylton – Cal Poly, Engineering Intern (Salida)
- Aryan Mathur – University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne, IT Intern (Sacramento)
- Austin Ekizian – Sacramento State, Process Improvement Intern (Sacramento)
- Jessie Yearwood – University of Seattle, Operations Intern (Sacramento)
- Gabriel Ortiz – Cal Poly, Operations Intern (Sacramento)
- Alex Ma – Arizona State University, Procurement Intern (Sacramento)
- Aris Briones – UC Davis, Innovation Business Strategy & Analytics (Snacks) Intern (Sacramento)
- Leah Murray – UC San Diego, Innovation Business Strategy & Analytics (Culinary) Intern (Sacramento)
- Dionisius (Dion) Gunadi – UC Davis, R&D Intern (Sacramento)
- Kate Capurso – UC Davis, Innovation Strategic Alliance Intern (Sacramento)