For the Port of Seattle’s 2016 summer internship program one-third of the interns are college students.
Yi Chen, 22, is the Port of Seattle’s full-time Airline Scheduling Intern for 2016-2017.
She is a senior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Dayton Beach, Florida. Chen is filling in for the Port of Seattle’s team former Airline Resource Specialist who had left on military leave in June.
Yi, who grew up in China, has a bachelor’s degree in air transportation from Nanjing University of Aeronautical and Astronautics (NUAA), China. She is in the United States enrolled as an international transfer student in Embry-Riddle’s “Sino-ERAU 3+1+1” graduate program while continuing her higher education with aMaster of Science in Aeronautics. After moving from China to Florida for eight months, Yihad already found an internship across the country in Seattle.
She had first found out about the Port’s internship opportunities while scrolling through Facebook. She saw a post from a friend she had met at a “Women in Aviation” networking event who had just finished an internship with the Port working with Aviation Operation as a three-month summer intern. In the post, her friend had recommended others to apply for the Port’s internships saying it’s a great opportunity and the valuable experience she had with it. Yi clicked the link and applied for the position of airport duty manager.
A couple months after applying Yi had received a call in April from the Port on behalf of her application. There had been an interest in her application specifically about her experience in gate assignment and wanted to know if she would be interested in a different position instead.
Originally applying for a three-month internship, Yi received a yearlong fulltime position as an Airline Scheduling intern. On the phone call they had explained that Tim Toerber, who held the position previously, was leaving in June and their rush to find someone qualified to fill his position starting as soon as May.
Yi was hesitant to accept and wasn’t sure if it was going to work for her. As a transfer international student, she did not have the required paperwork and documents to obtain an internship. Also she would have had to take a break from school for one year while working for the airport. It looked like the odds were against her and that it was not going to happen.
“So I say ‘Oh I’m an international student I’m not sure if it’s going to work,’” Chen said.
She knew if she took the opportunity that it was not guaranteed that she would pass all paperwork for a VISA and the necessary requirements for schooling. At the time, she still needed to finish the final procedures and presentation to receive her bachelor’s degree at NUAA and in order to complete her schooling at Embry-Riddle U she needed her degree.
Despite the many complications she talked with her parents and they told her that it was a great opportunity and encouraged her to take the offer. She began working with her school in China, Embry-Riddle and Port of Seattle and all three collaborated in order to complete the procedures needed for Yi to have the internship.
All in a 20 day period, Yi flew back to her home country for a few days and completed paperwork, received her bachelor’s degree, traveled back to Florida and did even more paperwork, got her SEVIS and other immigration procedures completed, packed up all of her things and moved across the country to Seattle.
Since joining the Port of Seattle, Yi has been an important and major role at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. She deals with issues related with airline gates. Some of her responsibilities are to insert airline flight schedules, assign gates for aircrafts and alert airlines and maintenance when there is an issue with a gate.
Yi, who also speaks Mandarin Chinese, utilizes her skills and works with the Airline Service Department to greet and help with international passengers. Since starting her position, Yi has been able to attend Volaris’ ribbon cutting ceremony for their inaugural flight and a seminar hosted by Boeing where she was able to meet the CEO of Civil Aviation Administration in China who offered her to come back anytime to China for an internship.
