In the Elkhart Community School system, technology problems are considered especially heinous. At Elkhart Memorial, the dedicated interns who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as Memorial Student Tech Services (MSTS). These are their stories.

Benjamin Rutledge

Goes by: Ben

Grade: 12

Years in MSTS: One

Team position: Education specialist

Why did you join MSTS?  I heard about it from Manny last year and I thought it would be a great learning experience for me.

What career do you think you will go into? I am planning on going to college for Skyscraper Architecture, and  on the side I would also love to go further with my artistic talents and and go into music or produce art for Marvel comics.

How will the Tech Internship help you in your career and/or achieve your goals? Tech has taught me to maintain discipline with deadlines and has taught me to improvise, to use previous knowledge, and to use critical thinking to solve problems, which will greatly help me when designing towers and having to assess issues on the fly.

Brayden Hines

Goes by: Brayden 

Grade: 12

Years in MSTS: Two and a half 

Team Position: Recruitment 

Why did you join MSTS? The reason I joined MSTS is because my friend, Sean, invited me and the group was very welcoming.

What career do you think you will go into? The career I am going into after high school is a combat engineer in the Marine Corp.

How will the Tech Internship help you in your career and/or achieve your goals? I believe that tech internship will help me in my military career, due to the importance of logging all information and paperwork, as well as making sure I double check all of my work.

Nathan Taylor

Goes by: Nate

Grade: 10 

Years in MSTS: One

Team position: Digital design (Creates digital content for the tvs around the school and recruitment posters)

Why did you join MSTS? I have a very strong passion for technology and I believed that this internship would help me improve my skills in customer service, technology literacy, and this internship has helped me with all of those things.

What career do you think you will go into? This Internship has definitely helped me realize that I am very interested in a career in IT or networking.

How will the Tech Internship help you in your career and/or achieve your goals? This internship has helped me realize my weaknesses in the workplace and resolve them for my future endeavors.

Noah Hardy

Goes by: Noah

Grade: 12 

Years in MSTS: 2 years and was also in MSTS when it was just called MSTC

Team position: Web Designer + Data Coordinator (responsible for designing the websites and getting data on what the team does)

Why did you join MSTS?  I joined MSTS back when I was a sophomore. I mainly joined the team because I like to work with technology, and I also wanted to learn about technology related issues and problems.

What career do you think you will go into?  I’m still trying to decide what career I want to enter. I’m planning on attending college for computer science because I enjoy working with computers, but I have realized I wouldn’t really like a job where I’m at a desk all day working I am more of a hands on worker.

How will the Tech Internship help you in your career and/or achieve your goals? Being at the Tech desk has taught me skills like being responsible for myself, communication, and problem solving, which these three skills will help me greatly in any future job I go into.

Phillip Meadows

Goes by: Phillip

Grade: 12

Years in MSTS: One

Team position: Event planner 

Why did you join MSTS? I wanted to enhance my technology capabilities.

What career do you think you will go into? I have no specific one in mind but something tech related.

How will the Tech Internship help you in your career and/or achieve your goals? This will help enhance my technology related skills aiding in faster problem solving in my job.

Sean Khomphengchan

Goes by: Sean

Grade: 12

Years in MSTS: 3 years (co-founder)

Team position: Team Manager

Why did you join MSTS? I like technology and I always think it is a good idea to help others.

What career do you think you will go into? I will most likely pursue a Doctorate in Physics with a special focus on High Energy Physics. I will probably try and be a researcher or create my own firm and see what can be applied.

How will the Tech Internship help you in your career and/or achieve your goals? It will keep me on my feet with what comes out and will help with organization and teaching me how to manage.

Abigail Gratzol

Goes by: Abby

Grade: 12

Years in MSTS: One

Team position: Communications Specialist (communicate with GENESIS and write content for handouts and announcements)

Why did you join MSTS? Even though I’m not very interested in technology, I felt that the tech internship would boost my resume. I also thought that it would help me develop my social skills and learn more about work-ethic.

What career do you think you will go into? I’m still keeping my mind open on this but, right now, I’m planning on attending college to become an archeologist. I also plan on continuing to write and create on the side. 

How will the Tech Internship help you in your career and/or achieve your goals? Being at the Tech Service Desk has taught me about responsibility, communication, and problem-solving: important skills for any job. It has also taught me about customer service and the inner-workings of the school, which has made me much more appreciative of my surroundings.

And that’s all for now! Tune in next week for the Fresh Meat Edition!