Accolade staff writer Aaliyah Magana contributed to this story.

Heading into the 2019-2020 school year, senior Philip Kim wanted to bulk up his college resume. He signed up for an elective, Senior Internship, which requires him to find a business to obtain some after school work experience.

Kim then asked his parents to help him, and a family friend from his church eventually offered the senior a chance at interning for the place the friend works at, Anaheim-based Interlog Corp. The company makes vehicular lights, electrical assemblies and other precision-fabricated components; NASA also recently selected the firm to develop a “multi-material fabrication lab,” according to Interlog’s website.

His senior internship began last August and ended a few months ago in March after he fulfilled the 150-hour work requirement for the class.

After his fifth-period class, Kim said he routinely drove to the factory, where he would meet his mentor and get ready to go to work. He did two hours of factory work — putting pieces together — with a 15-minute break in between.

“After the factory work is over, I usually ask for any office work that needs to be filed, or [I’m] working on Excel spreadsheets at the front desk for 30 minutes,” he said.

One of the employees at Interlog, Sunny Yim, had the chance to meet Kim and observe his work ethic throughout the duration of his internship.

“Kim is very responsible, comes into the office willing to learn and asks questions, which shows leadership in his character,” Yim said.

For Kim’s final assignment for the Senior Internship class, he submitted a digital presentation to his teacher, Lori Larsen. 

“He was diligent, worked hard, met his deadlines and always had things in order,” Larsen said, adding that the “ninth period class” will no longer be offered to seniors upon her retirement at the end of the 2019-2020 school year.

Though Kim eventually decided to attend Fullerton College and then transfer to a four-year university, he said the internship experience has taught him one very important lesson:

“I definitely know that I don’t want to work under someone,” said Kim, who plans to earn an associate’s degree in environmental science. “I want people to work under me.”