Brothers and Bay County natives, Trey and Drew Christmas, have followed in their father's footsteps by pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career fields.

Trey and Drew's father, John Christmas, has been employed by Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) as a Remote Mine Hunting System Senior Systems Engineer since December of 2000.

"Engineering seemed the best fit for me," the elder Christmas said. "I had a specific interest in control systems and how they worked."

The brothers each completed their second internship at NSWC PCD on July 31. They are now one step closer to achieving their education goals, having learned real-world skills that will prepare them for their future careers.

The Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP) enable students to participate in research at a Department of Navy laboratory during the summer.

Both Trey and Drew are Gulf Coast State College alumni and attend Florida State University Panama City. Trey graduated this past summer and Drew is expected to graduate in summer 2016. The NREIP interns began their 10-week journey at NSWC PCD May 26.

Trey said he capitalized on last summer's internship and worked within NSWC PCD's Expeditionary Branch. Within the branch, he worked specifically with the Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicles building circuit boards to ensure they are working correctly.

"During my first NREIP internship, I was analyzing circuits," Trey said. "With my second internship, I am redesigning a lot of the circuits."

Drew continued his work with the Assault Breaching Systems Branch, having worked with Post Mission Analysis (PMA) for Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA).

"Already having previous as an NREIP intern, I knew I wanted to work on the same project as last year," said Drew.

Thanks to their experiences as interns, each brother said they now have a better idea which career field they want to pursue.

Trey has decided to specialize in Lab View Code, a graphical coding in which block-like structures are connected in place of using words. Drew thinks he would enjoy becoming a database specialist or become an information technologist.

Skills the brothers have learned during their NREIP internships at NSWC PCD have also helped them in school at FSU PC.

"The first internship really helped me with my classes at FSU PC including electronics," said Trey.

Drew feels his experiences at NSWC PCD have also helped him in his college classes.

"This internship has helped so much with my structured query language database class as my project uses this type of database," said Drew. "The team was very helpful with any question I had about data basing."

When Trey started his electrical engineering degree at FSU PC, he already knew what type of work he wanted to do.

"When I first started my program at FSU PC, I realized I really liked integrated circuits and designing alternative power" said Trey. "I also realized I could use integrated circuits for control systems, so those are the areas I focused on."

According to Drew, when he first began his educational journey, he was not sure exactly what he wanted to major in, but he knew the path he wanted to go, which was STEM.

"I feel very confident in the field I have chosen due to what I have participated in and have been exposed to early in my education," said Drew.

According to Drew, at a young age he and his brother got to personally know FSU PC senior engineering design project presentation leaders including Dr. Geoffrey Brooks, Dr. Dave Skinner, and Dr. Jerome Barnes. These men saw the Christmas brothers were intrigued with STEM learning and encouraged them along the way.

"Seeing that my brother and I were obviously curious, they encouraged us to dive into STEM related activities and classes," said Drew.

"I believe this exposure to the senior engineering design presentations at FSU PC have given both of our sons a desire to work in STEM fields," said John Christmas.

The brother's parents often encouraged STEM learning by engaging their sons with various electronic projects, creating circuit boards, rebuilding computers, etc. Having a father who is an engineer helped carve a path for the brothers' career choices.

Growing up, the brothers attended NSWC PCD's "Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" and often were able to shadow their father's career field by attending a lot of his project presentations.

Their father believes his sons being a part of the NREIP internship program at NSWC has been beneficial to them.

"Both of my sons have been very positive about their experiences as an NREIP intern," said their father. "They have delivered real, tangible products that benefit the program."

For more news from Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, visit www.navy.mil/local/NSWC/.