Here at Jenesis it has been our privilege over the years to bring in a number of interns, most of them at the high school level, and introduce them to the product design and electrical engineering industry. We’ve also been gratified to see many of these interns go on to pursue higher education and careers in the work they began with us. In honor of the talent and hard work they each contributed we thought we’d share a few of their stories.

Ben Jensen:

As the son of company president Brad Jensen, Ben’s first paying job with Jenesis was cleaning the office. In the summer after his first year of high school, Ben taught himself to use the mechanical design software Jenesis employs to model products. He was officially hired and worked as a CAD modeler through high school and into college.

Ben provided mechanical designs for a host of Jenesis products, including an array of battery powered candles and the first experimental generation of Low Glow products. By that time Ben reached college he had already seen several of his designs go from concept all the way to the shelves of major retailers.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering Ben began work on his PhD at Michigan Technological University. His NASA funded project employs cutting-edge computer simulations to predict the properties of new ultra strong materials before they are ever produced.

Mark Goldy:

Mark’s employment with Jenesis began at a Fourth of July party. The Jensen family was attending as well, and Brad, knowing Mark didn’t have much to do with his summer break, asked if he was interested in learning CAD. Mark accepted the offer and began working for Jenesis during his junior year of high school.

Some of Mark’s earliest projects gave him the opportunity to provide his own aesthetic perspective to Jenesis’ contract engineering work. His ideas defined the cosmetic design of many of the door chimes and battery operated candle products Jenesis produced for their contract partners.

Mark continued to work for Jenesis while he attended Michigan State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation he accepted an offer to return to Jenesis as the first new full time employee since the company was founded. Mark now provides both mechanical design and artistic direction for nearly all of Jenesis’ products offerings, including those for sale at JenesisProducts.com

Sam Range:

Sam was the first intern intentionally recruited from the Math and Science Center at the local high school. Coincidentally both Ben and Mark came from these advanced classes and Brad decided to try drawing from that pool again. He approached the teachers at the school and Sam was immediately recommended.

Sam’s enthusiasm for the job and love for learning and creating were instantly apparent. He picked up CAD quickly and soon became good friends with our rapid prototyping machine. During the course of his time with us Sam did all of the design work on one of the electronic candle products for one of our contract engineering partners.

Sam has since gone on to studying aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In fact he conducted his MIT interviews at the Jenesis office, offering a hands-on demonstration of the real world experience he gained with us to bolster his application. At MIT, Sam is involved in research on micro air vehicles and high-performance structures.  He credits his Jenesis experience for giving him the tools to develop out-of-the-box engineering solutions.

Seth Gruver:

After our initial success recruiting interns directly from the local high school we made another job offer to the students and Seth immediately put himself forward as a candidate. He passed a barrage of interview questions designed to test his latent engineering talent, and eagerly joined the team.

While at Jenesis, Seth taught himself CAD and quickly reached an impressive level of competence. He worked as an assistant engineer, contributing design work to a number of product concepts. Most of these designs are still under development, so we can’t reveal them to the public just yet.

Since leaving Jenesis, Seth has moved with his family to Kansas and has begun pursing a mechanical engineering degree at Kansas State University.

Andrew McDougall:

Andrew was another talented student drawn from the Math and Science Center. He came on board in response to the same offer and through the same process that brought in Seth.

Andrew provided the majority of the mechanical design for the Deck Marker Light. He distinguished himself with persistence and determination on this very technically challenging project.   With the guidance of our other engineers and a great deal of effort and patience on his part, Andrew was able to produce a product we are proud to offer to the public on this website.

After leaving Jenesis, Andrew went through the rigorous process of applying to the US Naval Academy. We are proud to report that he was accepted into the academy, thanks in small part to the impressive quality of his work at Jenesis. Andrew is pursuing a degree in computer science and Russian and recently won the Navy-Marine Corps Association Award for Leadership.

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