Desperate to Learn

Many moons ago when I was a sophomore in engineering school I decided to enter the intern program at our local engineering university, UAHuntsville.   There were only a few options to choose from, companies in Huntsville AL that had intern programs.  Our local power utility, Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA as we call it had an intern program and at that time the intern positions were only available at the Bellefonte Nuclear plant in Scottsboro AL.    At the time I lived at home in Rogersville, AL and Scottsboro was 90 miles away, that’s 90 miles one way!    After being accepted in the program I was informed that a TVA car pool that originated in Florence, AL came through Rogersville and that I could hitch a ride for a nominal fee.   For two terms, I woke up every workday at 4:00 AM to meet the carpool in Rogersville at 4:30 AM for a 2-hour commute to work.   I got off work everyday at 3:30 PM and arrived in Rogersville usually around 5:30 PM.    

Needless to say that schedule was brutal!!!  I was so focused on learning as much as I could about engineering and was so intrigued about power generation and distribution that the crazy schedule didn’t matter.   When there is a will, you find a way!!!!  I was desperate to learn.

BTW, riding the construction elevator that had a see through floor to the top of reactor #1  (a 300 foot climb) was never fun.   Fortunately I never had to the top of the 500 foot tall cooling towers!  :-) :-)

Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Scottsboro, AL