Some years ago, a love of boats and the water brought together four young men from Poquoson. Now they’re expanding on those experiences in a big way, as summer interns at Newport News Shipbuilding.
Chris Barber, Mason Forrest, Robert Check and R.B. Brown had their own club as young teens. As members of the “boat bros” club, they spent time on the water in boats and sometimes gathered at a local restaurant that had water access. They were too young to apply for a driver’s license, but not for a boater’s license.
“The boat bros was made up of friends who enjoyed going out on the waterfront,” said Forrest (E18), now a student at Hampden-Sydney College. “Though the fun we enjoyed didn’t directly correlate to the shipyard, it was the introduction to boats at such a young age that spiked my eagerness to learn more about ships on a larger scale.”
“The shipyard is like ‘boat bros’ in a way because there is a certain camaraderie at NNS that is unlike any other places I have worked in the past,” said Check (O46), a student at West Virginia University.
Brown agrees. The University of Virginia student is interning in X72, and says their shipyard experience “is somewhat the next big step in our combined love of being on the water and dealing with boats. Another consistent aspect is the camaraderie shown within. In my short time at the shipyard, I have felt welcomed by everyone I have met.”
Their internships have advanced their knowledge well beyond those early days. Barber, a rising junior at North Carolina State, is part of the cybersecurity group in the Propulsion Plant Planning Yard (PPPY) (E70), for example.
“I love technology and how limitless it is,” he said. “This summer has been super helpful on figuring out what I want to do in IT, which is a big field with many different career options. Also, the shipyard itself has so many different IT career fields. I’d like to progress my career here and explore as much of the field as I can.”
