Daniel Medrano grew up making things.

He built Legos as a kid. He’s always considered himself an artist, even though he may not have as much time to devote to his artwork as he used to. He’s also great with numbers.

The bottom line: Medrano likes making something out of nothing. Recently, he’s had his sights set on becoming an engineer one day. Bainbridge Manufacturing is helping him step closer to that goal.

Starting this summer after graduation from Bainbridge High School, Medrano will be the first of hopefully many summer interns to join Bainbridge Manufacturing for hands on experience in the engineering field. CEO Abraham Levy has talked about an internship program with the high school in the past, and is excited to have Medrano join the team.

“We contacted Vonda Hubbard and Lisa Jeter from Bainbridge High School’s CTAE (Career, Technical, Agricultural and Engineering Pathway) two weeks ago and told them we were interested in starting the summer internship program in Bainbridge Manufacturing,” Levy said. “We needed to partner with the school to get a steady flow of students into the program.”

While touring the school with Hubbard and Jeter, Levy was introduced to a construction class. Medrano had just finished building a bookcase there. The two spoke, and after a trip to Bainbridge Manufacturing, Medrano agreed to join.

“After getting in there, on the ride back he just seemed really excited about it,” Hubbard said.

The paid summer internship program will consist of 40 hours per week of intensive training in various areas of engineering with a focus on product design using 3-D computer software.

“Our goal is to offer this program every summer to local high school students interested in manufacturing and engineering,” Levy said.

Then, once the three-month paid internship ends, Medrano will work as a full-time employee.

After spending a year getting his feet wet in Bainbridge, Medrano has plans to attend college and eventually transfer to Georgia Tech for an engineering degree.

“It feels pretty exciting that they want me for something and to start it from the beginning,” Medrano said. “I’m really excited for mostly being a part of something so big. I like being able to improve stuff, make it more efficient and fix problems.”

Levy said for the future of the internship program to be a success, Bainbridge Manufacturing needed to partner with Bainbridge High School and its CTAE program.

“We will continue to work closely with Mrs. Hubbard and Dr. Jeter to ensure a steady flow of bright and highly-motivated students to our program and will provide the resources necessary to keep the CTAE program on the cutting edge of technology,” Levy said. “I believe this new partnership between industry and our schools is important to our community. Together we can achieve more.”

Full-scale production for Bainbridge Manufacturing is scheduled to begin in August.