Anthony Paneral
- Senior Reactor Operator Trainee
- Constellation
School Information
School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College Major: Engineering
Years at College Works: 2011
Career Information
Working For: Constellation
Title: Senior Reactor Operator Trainee
Industry: Energy
Brief Description of Duties / Responsibilities:
The Initial License Trainee (ILT) attends initial certification class to obtain their Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) License from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Upon certification and subsequently passing the NRC license examination, they will be fully licensed to supervise the operations of the nuclear reactor control room as an Operations Shift Supervisor.
What Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?Besides graduating with my engineering degree, I was able to run point on a project my first month at my new job. The client was actually one of the most important yet, because they wanted to incorporate new technologies into their machine. One of the reasons I was hired was to help bring our company to the next level by learning these new technologies, and how to incorporate them, and was successfully (eventually) able to get the job completed to everyone’s approval.
College Works Career Impact
In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?
Experience
How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?
College Works Painting helped me get used to working with other people, especially people who didn’t know as much about a job or situation as I did. Being able to easily explain things to those not informed, especially when they are your client, that was critical.
What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?
Keeping my head when things didn’t go according to plan. There will always be problems, ALWAYS, get used to it. Whether its communication, someone just messed up, or a third party issue that you have no control over, it happens far more often than not. Don’t freak out, just fix the problem and keep moving on. Worrying about a problem doesn’t fix problems, doing something about a problem does.
Advice
What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?
People complain too much that when they are unprepared, or don’t know something, they can use that as an excuse for failure. That is the easy way out, and while understandable, it won’t get you far. If you don’t know something, figure it out. If you have a task that you’ve never done or don’t know how, ask. Figure out solutions to problems, even when no one can blame you for failing, is what will separate you from everyone else, and make you awesome.
What’s your favorite memory from CW?
Hotel room meeting (before getting kicked out). That’s all I’m saying
Last words of wisdom?
Experience is the best teacher, so try everything. Even if you mess up, you learn a lesson and have a good story to tell later on. It’s your life, and what you do with it is 100% up to you, just don’t realize that too late.