"It Takes A Community"

Intern Daniel (Danny) Mitchell speaks; wins Scholarship

Left-Right: Liz Kniss, Danny Mitchell, Meri Gyves, Jeanie Treichel

April 21, 2004 - On April 15, 2004, the annual High School Work Experience Celebration, "It Takes a Community," was held by the Palo Alto Unified School District at Rickey's Hyatt House to honor local employer-mentors and their student employees. The Work Experience Program is a partnership between the school district and local businesses.

Sun and Lockheed Martin, Corporate Sponsors of this event, and over 70 other employer-mentors - along with the 80+ high school student employees they have hired during this past year - were in attendance. Also attending, and sitting at the Sun Labs table were Liz Kniss - Santa Clara County Supervisor, former mayor of Palo Alto, and former MarCom manager at Sun Labs; Mary Frances Callan, Superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District; Camille Townsend, Palo Alto School Board Member; and Keynote Speaker Sharon Williams, Executive Director of OICW (Opportunities Industrialization Center West, Inc.).

The honor of speaking at this event went to two outstanding students, one of whom was Danny Mitchell of Gunn High School, who has been an intern in Sun Labs since February of 2002. He was just a sophomore when he joined the Labs and has been an important member of Sun Labs Planning and Operations Team ever since. In his speech, Mitchell described the value of the Work Experience Class which teaches students about work ethics, resumes, finance, time management, and the expectations of employers. The second speaker was Julie Mellin of Palo Alto High School. She will be attending the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. This important classroom experience is conducted by Meri Gyves, Work Experience Teacher for both Gunn and Palo Alto High Schools.

Both Danny Mitchell and Julie Mellin were recipients of the Work Experience Scholarships of $1000 each and received commendations from Liz Kniss as well. Corporate contributions and the Paly (Palo Alto High School) PTSA Grant made the scholarships possible. Mitchell says he'll use his scholarship to buy a laptop to accompany him when he leaves for Pitzer University in Claremont, California in mid-August.

Joining in the celebration were Mitchell's proud parents, Joani and Larry Mitchell: they have reason to be proud. Who are these special students? Besides carrying a full load of classes and keeping their averages high -- high enough to select a university of their choice, they still participate in school activities, and reserve time for homework as well as other chores at home. In Mitchell's case, he was on the Gunn High School waterpolo team and was an active participant in the YMCA's Youth and Government Program which recently spent a week in Sacramento attending meetings with Governor Schwartzenegger and debating bills in the Congressional Chambers!

Mitchell has made himself particularly invaluable as coordinator of the activities of our university interns -- providing information to newcomers, planning meetings and events, and generally ensuring the integration of the new interns into the Labs' culture. Mitchell is the intern liaison and is always mentioned in their outgoing evaluations as the person who made a real difference in their experience while at Sun.

Besides the care and feeding of university interns, Mitchell's other diversified responsibilities in the Labs include: managing the consolidated purchasing of all the printer and office supplies; maintaining a display of patent plaques; photographing staff members for the picture board, Rogues' Gallery; creating and updating websites; distributing technical reports; and more. He'll also be remembered for lending a helping hand with the weekly social gatherings.

Mitchell will surely be missed, but he will always be remembered for his friendliness, his initiative, his intelligence, his easy manner with everyone, his smile, and his calm everything-is-under-control assurance. As Meri Gyves, the Work Experience Teacher, remarked, "Danny has set the bar so high that pressure is on to find Sun Labs a replacement for him for next year.

Congratulations to Danny Mitchell, Sun Labs' Outstanding High School Intern!