Applied also proudly partners with local nonprofits to create custom activities for visiting student groups. This past July, our employees in Austin, Texas volunteered with Breakthrough Central Texas, conducting mock interviews with young people and encouraging them to reflect on their summer experiences, practice public speaking skills, and learn how to network.

Also this summer at our Career Exploration Day with Breakthrough Silicon Valley, students participated in hands-on tech projects and learned about business and engineering concepts from representatives of Applied’s employee resource groups, including the Black Employee Network, Hispanics in Partnership and the Young Professionals Network.

Through all of these visits, we strive to provide a thoughtful introduction to Applied Materials and to potential career paths that await students upon high school and/or college graduation. This year, we were fortunate to have Roberto Pimienta, a Stanford RISE alumni and current Applied Materials process engineer, share his story. Roberto says, “Being a research intern in an academic lab gave me the opportunity to read journal articles, introduced me to the college environment and gave me access to ask my own research questions. Regular field trips to local companies like Applied Materials made the experience even more rewarding.”

To quote one of our young visitors, we hope students come away “totally inspired” by their conversations with our experts. On behalf of our employee volunteers and mentors, we can confidently say the feeling is mutual.

To learn more about Applied’s year-round education support and other areas we’re passionate about, check out the Community page on our website, read our CSR Report or follow us on Twitter at @Applied4Good.

Tags: career development, student outreach, stem, breakthrough silicon valley, breakthrough central texas