Internship Spotlight - Michael Karpowitz


	From:	Orange County, CA
	Major:	Mechanical Engineering
	Company:	Polaris Industries
	Location:	Salt Lake City, UT

Seeing how machines are designed and manufactured has always interested Mike. His dad owns a computer numerical control (CNC) machinery company, and Mike used to do some work with him. "Mechanics has always interested me," he said. "At home I did all the car repairs for the whole family. Any car that needed work came to me."

While living in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mike found a job with a Polaris dealership repairing sport-recreation vehicles. At the 2001 Master Service Technician competition in Florida, Mike demonstrated his mechanical skills by placing fourth overall in North America. This sparked his interest in the engineering aspects of mechanics.

Mike sits with his machines Wanting to attend BYU-Idaho to study mechanical engineering, Mike applied for a job with Rexburg Motor Sports, realizing, "I needed to get a job here if I wanted to support my family and go to school." During the interview he simply told them, "I'll give you what I'm worth."

The reputation Mike had built for himself not only landed him the job, but it also helped him get an internship with Polaris Industries in Minnesota. At Polaris, engineering interns are given a number of projects to complete by the end of their term. "I was given a list of criteria, and left to go to work," Mike said.

Most of what Mike did was product testing for various recreation vehicles. He received good reviews from his supervisors, loved interning with them, and learned a lot more about the industry. "At the dealership, the products always came in the door and we didn't really know what went into their production. My internship let me see exactly what it takes to produce such products," he said.

Mike works on an engine In addition to his internship, Mike's BYU-Idaho team entry in the 2004 Mini BAJA West helped him realize the importance of the classes he'd taken. As a rookie entry in the car building-and-racing competition, his team placed 23rd out of 110 entrants. "It was a lot of fun!" he said. "It was an awesome experience to design the car, build it, and then see it in person as a finished product."

Although he saw quite a bit of the production side of Polaris' products, Mike said that there's always more to learn. "I got to see all the upcoming products for the next three or four years," he said, although he couldn't tell us much more than that because of his proprietary agreement with Polaris.

In June, Mike has an interview set up with Polaris' for a potential job offer. "We're not committed to go there yet, because our family is important to us," he said, "but it is a possibility." Mike added that his internship really helped him know what he wants in a career. "An internship is supposed to give you an eye-opener, and that's just what mine did."