THE FUTURE IS NOW

THE FUTURE

IS NOW Samsung internships for Taylor ISD opens doors for grads

TRAVIS E. POLING Special to the Press

With Central Texas in the early stages of being a hub for advanced semiconductor research and manufacturing, Taylor Independent School District students are in the vanguard of the region’s future

labor force. As part of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s agreement with Taylor, Williamson County and the school district, tax breaks on the more than $17 billion semiconductor foundry come with a commitment to provide paid internships to 24 Taylor ISD students each summer.

The mutually beneficial arrangement has led to three classes of interns in the program working across numerous departments in the operation on the Taylor construction site or at the existing Samsung Austin Semiconductor campus in northeast Austin.

Applications for the summer 2025 internships recently closed.

Some of those interns are working toward a post-

“Samsung was the catalyst for a lot of my interest in the environment.”

— Kenny Calvo

Taylor High School graduate college future with the South Korean tech giant, while others say the program helped them find their passion and gave them lessons they can carry into any career.

“It’s been nice to hear the stories because I don’t think any of them knew what to expect going into it,” said Erika Cantwell, principal of Taylor ISD’s Legacy Early College High School. “They were treated like professionals, and they’re learning communications skills.”

Cantwell said one student was sought by Samsung after his internship to work as a semiconductor fabrication apprentice, and the company paid for the learner to attend Austin Community College for further training.

Eva Neill, a senior at Legacy, worked in Samsung’s environmental health and safety department, which was mostly at the Taylor construction site, last summer and is applying to go back this summer.

“I don’t really like sitting at a desk all day, and this seemed more hands on,” Neill said. When she graduates from Legacy, it will be with an associate degree and sets the stage for her to possibly work at Samsung in her internship field while she pursues her bachelor's degree.

“You need to be willing to learn and open to the experiences because there is so much going on,” Neill said.

INTERNS

Abby Aplin interned at Samsung, working in the same department as Neill after her junior and senior years. She is now a freshman in environmental studies at Southwestern University in Georgetown.

“Staying in Taylor or going to college so close wasn’t necessarily on my radar,” said Aplin, a 2024 Taylor High School graduate. “But now I just feel blessed. A lot of us (interns) just kind of went into it unknowingly, not even knowing what the semiconductor industry even was.”

Many of the trainees had such good experiences their first go round that they applied for a second internship for the summer after graduation. While Aplin said some sought different departments, ranking preferences and listing interests mostly for good matches from the start.

“Everybody kind of finds their place,” Aplin said. She continues to stay in touch with her mentors in the environmental and health department and said they will be invaluable references in the future.

Kenny Calvo, an environmental science sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, wanted to earn money the summer after his junior year at Taylor High and was encouraged to apply for the inaugural internship program.

“Initially, I had not intended to apply, but they needed more people, and I decided to see what the workforce was all about,” Calvo said.

His first internship in community relations taught him event coordination and a glimpse at the way Samsung makes itself a part of a small community such as Taylor.

During the internship, he helped coordinate an event for Samsung donationrecipient Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry & Thrift Shop in Taylor and said he now volunteers at the food pantry and thrift store.

However, Calvo was drawn to environmental issues and came back for a second internship in that department.

“Samsung was the catalyst for a lot of my interest in the environment,” he said.

For Analise Frias, the internship was a turning point.

“Samsung shaped entirely what I wanted to do,” said Frias, a sophomore in business management at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The Taylor High graduate worked with the human resources department at Samsung’s Austin campus and got a glimpse of the inner workings of how a business runs.

From her mentors, she learned business ethics and the importance of how members of a team should be treated, Frias said.

“They really instilled that into me,” she said.

Although she said the corporate world does interest her, her longer-term goal is to own her own business. Frias, the daughter of an automotive technician, said her initial ambition was to operate her own mechanic business, but she is exploring other options, too, as she pursues her college degree.

SKILLED WORKERS

For Samsung, which will eventually employ more than 2,000 workers on the Taylor campus and additional in future expansions, the quest for skilled workers in many departments is expected to continue for decades.

Jeffrey Go, executive vice president of the Taylor site, encouraged Taylor ISD students from the summer 2024 intern class to consider a career with the company. “Taylor is wide open for you students, for the future. We will be waiting,” Go said to

File photo

students in July. It isn’t just Samsung providing paid internship and work experience to area students. Numerous Samsung suppliers and other industries are flocking to east Williamson County and are asked to provide opportunities to area youth in exchange for tax breaks from city and county governments.

In an address to Taylor ISD interns completing summer internships in 2023, Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said his college summers sweeping floors in a cabinet shop in Hutto were a long way from what students are experiencing with Samsung internships.

“When I look at you, what I see are not only kids from Taylor, Texas, but I see the future of America. This program is so important to me that every major corporate agreement that Williamson County has signed with major companies now involves internship and mentor programs,” Gravell said.