Lucas Lunyou (January 2023 - August 2023)

Co-op Experience

What was the interview process like?

I met Sarah Adler at my school’s career fair. We had a great conversation about working for Hunter. I then setup an interview with Whitney Chrisler. We had a great conversation about my work experience and about what the position would have to offer.

Most students just want experience, but they may not know what type of experience they want. Please describe some of the work you did and what type of skills you needed. It is important to note the skills you could apply from what you’ve learned in school and what you learned on the job.

I worked on a variety of projects ranging from parts for prototype builds, finding new carts for our ADAS system, and working on projects for our Mississippi plants.

The skills that I could apply from school would be some of my mechanical engineering classes, along with my project management classes.

What experience do you think will be the most useful for you in the future?

The experience that will help me most in future is being able to tour the vendors that make our parts. I was able to visit Production Castings and Specialty Plastics. I received tours from both companies that allowed me to learn about aluminum diecasts, injection molding, and CNC machining.

How do you think the overall experience will help you in your career?

The overall experience will help me in my career because I have learned a great amount about various aspects of manufacturing.

What aspect of the work did you enjoy the most?

The work I enjoyed the most was working on projects with great team members. I think being able to work on projects and have major responsibilities is a great experience.

What aspect of the work did you not enjoy?

Some of the work was a little tedious, but that is normal.

Did you learn anything?

Yes, I learned so much along my co-op. I worked on various projects that improved my understanding of the manufacturing process along with improving my engineering knowledge from seeing exactly how the parts that we use for assemblies are created.

Students often want to know if they will work alone or in a group. Was the work you did more individual or group work, and how does it compare with what you have done in school or at another job?

The work that I did consistently involve working as a team. I also worked on projects alone, which I enjoyed.

What were your living arrangements during co-op?  This question is especially important for those that are not from St. Louis.

The living arrangement was great, I lived with two other co-ops from Missouri S&T. We rented an apartment in Maryland Heights; it was a great experience.

How was the supervision?

I didn’t have much supervision, which I enjoyed. I was always readily available to reach out for help or information.

Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself, Hunter Engineering, the co-op program or the work?

It was a phenomenal experience, a great reason to take a break from school and get some real-world work experience.