PHOENIX (AP) - Chandler isn’t exactly the top destination for most high-school students looking to get away for spring break, but it was the perfect place for Joey Hudy.
Hudy, 17, was happy to make the trek from Anthem to the southeast Valley because it allowed him to do what he loves best: make things. Hudy spent his spring break completing an internship at Intel. He has been working with the company’s product-development team during school breaks since January. He’ll work there on a more regular basis this summer.
When he started his internship at age 16, he became the youngest intern in the company’s history.
He has been in the spotlight before. Hudy wowed President Barack Obama with an “extreme marshmallow cannon” he displayed at the White House Science Fair in 2012. He also was a guest of first lady Michelle Obama at the 2014 State of the Union Address. Hudy was invited because of his connection with the so-called maker movement.
Makers are people who are interested in innovation and in creating new products.
It was his involvement with the maker community that led him to Intel. The internship came about after Hudy met Intel CEO Brian Krzanich at a Maker Faire in Rome. Maker Faires are gatherings of people interested in the maker movement held in locations throughout the world.
Hudy, who had started his own business selling electronic kits, was speaking at the fair. Intel was handing out its Galileo Development Board - an open-source computer board the company is encouraging people to develop innovative uses for - but Hudy missed out on the giveaway because he was speaking at the time.
“By the time I got out of the speech room, they were all gone, so I went over to the Intel booth to get one,” Hudy said. “While I was there, Brian Krzanich, the CEO of Intel, was there. He said we have to get you on our team. I thought he was just being nice, but within a month, we got the paperwork, signed it, and I started working at Intel.”
The internship is Hudy’s second with a Valley high-tech firm. Two summers ago, he worked for Microchip and spent part of his time there soldering circuit boards. That internship gave him the idea to develop a kit to teach soldering. It’s among the products his company sells.
Hudy has always been interested in making things, though his curiosity would sometimes get him in trouble.
“I’ve always been taking things apart and making things,” he said. “I got more professional about it after my first Maker Faire three years ago. That’s when I started making actual kits and selling them. Before that, I was taking things apart and not always getting them back together. That’s when I would get in trouble.”
Hudy also sells kits that contain arrays of LED lights that can be programmed to turn on and off. His mother, Julie Hudy, said her son saw a niche in the marketplace and tried to fill it.
“They’re beginner kits for kids,” Julie Hudy said. “He felt there wasn’t really anything for him when he started, so he’s trying to make starting kits for kids.”
Stewart Christie, a community manager in Intel’s Developer Relations Division, has been a mentor to Hudy in his time with the company. Christie helps Hudy with the software for the products he works on in addition to providing support.
Christie said having someone like Hudy around is not only fun, it helps the company see things in different ways.
“Having a different perspective on things is what we need for this maker experience,” Christie said. “We’re an experienced company, but we’re tried and true and we have our ways. This maker movement is something new and ever changing. So, we need innovative people to come in and do this.”
Christie and Hudy have a friendly relationship that goes beyond work. They met at a Maker Faire three years ago and kept in touch.
“Because he’s underage, we’re not even sure if he can open a bank account at the credit union,” Christie said.
Hudy is a junior at Herberger Young Scholars Academy on the Arizona State University West Campus. He plans to attend college and said he wouldn’t mind working at Intel after graduation.
It isn’t lost on him that he’s had a pretty eventful life the past three years.
“It’s been an amazing time,” Hudy said. “Even this week. I’ve only worked three days (during spring break) this week, but it’s a lot of fun so far. Whenever I step back and look at it, I smile.”
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Information from: The Arizona Republic, https://www.azcentral.com
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