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Students Alejandro Venegas and Shannon Rouhana, who completed their externships with Southwestern Energy, pose with Damien Friend, the company’s chief geologist, at the awards banquet.
The next generation of America’s oil and natural gas leaders took its first eager steps toward securing successful careers in the energy industry, when a group of 55 rising seniors and recent graduates from the Petroleum Academies at Milby, Westside, and Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy (YWCPA) participated in a two-week, job-shadowing opportunity at various Houston petroleum exploration, production, and service companies.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association (PESA) Student Externship Program began in the summer of 2010 to provide a one-of-a-kind experience for future engineering and geosciences students enrolled in the IPAA/PESA Petroleum Academies, and to date, 394 externs have participated.