Jan. 30, 2011
By Matt Winkeljohn
Sting Daily
Kevin Cone is toiling in Pittsburgh, where the former Georgia Tech wide receiver is working with a group of about 30 aspiring NFL players to prepare for their respective “Pro Day” workouts in front of NFL scouts and officials in the next couple of months.
Even if Cone’s football dream is not realized after the time he’s spending working with an outfit called Power Train, he could end up back in Pittsburgh.
The Gwinnett County native interned last summer with Westinghouse Electric, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Cranberry, putting to use much of what he’d learned in Tech’s mechanical engineering program.
“My main task was designing and . . . modeling on a computer — calibration blocks, a primary component in nuclear power plants,” Cone said. “I was doing a lot of different tasks. I had to review drawing sheets and mark-up drawings and revise them, too.”
Cone, who graduated in December (ME), spent the better part of three months in Pennsylvania last summer, leaving only to return to Atlanta for July 4th (when he ran the Peachtree Road Race), and to visit his baseball-playing brother in Cape Cod.
Tech’s Pro Day for football players will be March 9, and even if football is not in the future for the former St. Pius X standout, his Tech background nonetheless will almost certainly factor in his plans.
“I’m definitely planning on using my degree at some point,” Cone said. “Westinghouse is at the top of my list, a company I would like to work for. Or maybe I’d like to work for Nike and design sports equipment, stay in the sports industry. I’m not picky. Engineering degree is great. I never saw myself doing nuclear engineering, and now I can.”
Tech has a wide variety of student internship programs, and there is a special attachment designed to assist student-athletes in the internship process. Cone’s advisor at Tech, Krisci Mehassey, helped steer him in the internship program, and he wouldn’t trade the experience.
“[At Westinghouse] I was able to apply a lot of what I’d learned. They didn’t have to teach me how to use the software; I’d learned it,” he said. “The basics of the power plant I knew, the specifics I learned there. I would evaluate [the internship program] very positively. I learned so much. You . . . get a lot more detail [in the field].”
To see a little more about Cone’s internship, check this link: http://www.gtip.gatech.edu/kevincone.php.
Are you interested in hiring a Georgia Tech student-athlete as an intern this summer? Tech Student-Athletes need internships! To sign up, contact Georgia Tech’s Department of Professional Practices through Patricia Bazrod @(404)894-3320.
Make sure you mention an interest in student-athletes. Georgia Tech Athletic Association questions may be directored to Doug Allvine @ (404) 894-9019.
