{"id":55840,"date":"2026-01-07T09:53:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/?p=55840"},"modified":"2026-01-07T09:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:53:07","slug":"altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/01\/07\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Altec Internship Proves Key Piece of Engineer&#8217;s Academic Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For as long as he can remember, Kevin Austin has always been a mathematical, analytical thinker. As a student at James River High School, Austin attended the Botetourt Technical Education Center (BTEC), and that&#8217;s where he connected his problem-solving mindset to a career path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I look at any situation through the analytical lens first; it&#8217;s just how my brain works,&#8221; he said. Austin chose to pursue a career in engineering but wanted to get there the most cost-effective way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through BTEC, Austin learned about Virginia Western&#8217;s engineering program and its pathway to four-year universities. After doing the math, Austin saw Virginia Western as a smart first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/22\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\/\">Read about how Dr. Rick Clark was instrumental in providing links to internship opportunities in this story by Karenna Glover for Impact magazine.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For as long as he can remember, Kevin Austin has always been a mathematical, analytical thinker. As a student at James River High School, Austin attended the Botetourt Technical Education Center (BTEC), and that&#8217;s where he connected his problem-solving mindset to a career path. &#8220;I look at any situation through the analytical lens first; it&#8217;s<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/01\/07\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\/\"> (Read the full article&#8230;)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Erica Myatt","author_link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/author\/emyatt\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Altec Internship Proves Key Piece of Engineer&#039;s Academic Journey - Virginia Western Bulletin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Altec Internship Proves Key Piece of Engineer&#039;s Academic Journey - Virginia Western Bulletin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For as long as he can remember, Kevin Austin has always been a mathematical, analytical thinker. As a student at James River High School, Austin attended the Botetourt Technical Education Center (BTEC), and that&#8217;s where he connected his problem-solving mindset to a career path. &#8220;I look at any situation through the analytical lens first; it&#8217;s (Read the full article...)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/01\/07\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Virginia Western Bulletin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T14:53:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T14:53:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erica Myatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erica Myatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/07\\\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/07\\\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erica Myatt\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ea66be7388349fea07ee14dfb69189c\"},\"headline\":\"Altec Internship Proves Key Piece of Engineer&#8217;s Academic Journey\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-07T14:53:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-07T14:53:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/07\\\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":143,\"articleSection\":[\"Campus News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/07\\\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/07\\\/altec-internship-proves-key-piece-of-engineers-academic-journey\\\/\",\"name\":\"Altec Internship Proves Key Piece of Engineer's Academic Journey - 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