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Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association Hosts Summer Intern Program
Cotton Ginners Marketplace
For 12 years, the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association has provided an opportunity for college students to experience the cotton ginning industry firsthand through its summer intern program. For 2019, three young people are onboard. They were chosen from a roster of eight well-qualified applicants. This year’s interns are Kalin Clark, Texas A&M University; Garrett Gallagher, Texas A&M University; and Brendon Mikeska, Texas Tech University. Clark is from Azle, Texas, near Fort Worth and will be completing a degree in biological and agricultural engineering in December. He has a good mechanical background and enjoys working on small engines. Clark has worked in several shops and is a skilled fabricator and mechanic. He is working at Oasis Gin Inc. in Seminole and the United Ag Co-op Inc. in El Campo. Gallagher is from Orange Grove, Texas, near Corpus Christi. He is working to complete his degree in agricultural systems management in May 2020. Gallagher is a trained welder and is familiar with plasma arc cutting. He has also been involved with farming and ranching throughout his childhood and adult life. Gallagher’s summer internship is at Texas Producers Cooperative in Sudan and Amherst and Edcot Co-op Gin in Odem. Mikeska is from Wingate, Texas, near San Angelo. His parents are Brent and Sherri Mikeska, owners of Wingate Gin in Runnels County. Mikeska has grown up around the gin and is currently working to complete his degree in applied economics at Texas Tech University. He has work experience at Wingate Gin and Runnels Grain Co. Last summer, he interned for Lummus Corp., where he assisted in constructing and repairing gin machinery throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Mikeska has also served as a field technician for Lubbock Electric. This summer, he is working at Lubbock Cotton Growers and Coastal Plains Gin in Mathis. As the TCGA interns make their way through the summer experience, here is what they have to report.
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Kalin Clark — Texas A&M University “So far, my time at the Oasis Gin North plant has been a very busy and excitingly new experience. We have been hard at work recovering from a fire that recently wreaked havoc throughout the entire gin. Unfortunately, the fire rendered much of the gin unusable, and a massive rebuilding process is currently underway. I have had the opportunity to be on the front lines of this massive undertaking. I have been assigned to a small crew of gin technicians, and every day we are actively in the gin installing and repairing crucial ginning components. “One of the first undertakings my crew and I had was to install new cylinders in an inclined cleaner. This proved no easy task as each cylinder is extremely heavy. We had to use a series of chain hoists to maneuver each individual cylinder into its correct position. On top of that, the new cylinders did not fit perfectly, and with their bearings mounted still rubbed on the steel around the outside of the shafts. To solve this problem, we had to use a
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COTTON FARMING | AUGUST 2019
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