Celia Coates is a senior at the University of Notre Dame studying Computer Science. She is from Elkhart, IN and participated in the CCI Internship Program during the summer of 2022.
How did this experience affect your view and attachment to the South Bend/ Elkhart region?
In the past, I've seen the South Bend/Elkhart region as a pretty unimportant place, easily overlooked with not much to do or see. However, this internship helped me realize that there is actually a lot more going on here. Businesses here are on the rise, and you'd be surprised to see how much this place has going for it.
What was the most rewarding experience in the program?
I was fortunate to get to work on a project designing navigation software for THOR's electric RV, the first electric recreational vehicle ever made. Having the opportunity to contribute to the forefront of automotive innovation was exciting. Also, I loved working with the team– not only was it fun to collaborate with peers on the project, but the project mentors themselves were also very supportive and took every opportunity to recognize all the work I had done.
How did your experience in the program enhance your academic and professional goals?
For most of the project, I was tasked with handling our software's backend, connecting to various API's (Application Programming Interface) to gather the information our software needed to run. Doing so gave me newfound respect for backend developers and a better understanding of what that sort of job can look like. Developing backend might be for me; it satisfies my perfectionist nature in a way that frontend can't quite manage.