Dylan Souza leaves for California Feb. 2 until June 25 for what Apple Inc. calls career experience.

Souza, who completed two Southwestern Michigan College associate degrees in 2013-14, is working on a Bethel College organizational management bachelor’s degree.

He arrived from Mishawaka’s Penn High School in 2011.

The multinational technology company was founded April 1, 1976, in Cupertino by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.

The world’s largest information technology company posted $233 billion total revenue for the fiscal year ended in September.

Apple’s early days are ancient history to Souza, 22, assigned to internal retail marketing for Apple Stores like the one he has worked in at University Park Mall since starting in sales in October 2013.

“The only two projects they can publicly tell me I’m working on are San Francisco Pride (8,000 employees participated in the 2015 parade) and the Retail Leader Summit store managers attend once a year,” said Souza, an SMC Marketing Department student worker.

“They post career experience opportunities at work,” he said. “I applied with a one-page bio about what I’ve done and they saw my portfolio,” said the former resident assistant (RA) who shed 150 pounds.

“I came for graphic design,” Souza said. “I liked the campus and that I was far from home but close to home. My senior class had like 1,100 kids. There is so much opportunity at Penn I didn’t really care I felt like a number. Coming here, I felt valued. I was born in Mishawaka, but live in Osceola/Granger. I moved back in 2007 from Virginia, 30 minutes outside D.C.”

Souza was “12 or 13” and Myspace was the social networking leader when he created a web site.

“I taught myself HTML (HyperText Markup Language used to create web pages) and Photoshop, then realized there were Illustrator, InDesign and others. I made business cards for people and menus for restaurants. As a junior I had an opportunity to go to Elkhart Career Center for advertising design half my day for two years and worked for places all around northern Indiana. I did tons of newspaper and magazine ads.”

Souza’s ultimate aim is attaining a master’s degree and becoming a marketing director.

“I have tons of graphic design experience, so it’s cool to branch off into marketing,” he said. “I liked coloring with crayons, but hate drawing. I’m a perfectionist. Graphic design let me align everything perfectly. I got into computers, but realized I don’t like IT. I like working with what’s on the computer, not taking its hard drive apart.”

“I wanted to do more (at the Apple Store), so I trained to be a creative, teaching older people how to work their products,” he said. “I’m a technician people ask about their phones. I average 45-50 appointments a shift. Slow moments are rare, but it’s fun. Only me and one other person are going from 4,000 to 5,000 applicants.”

Infinite Loop encircles six main four-story buildings.

An Apple Store selling souvenirs and equipment is the only part of the campus open to the public.

“My office is in a ‘bub,’ of which there are 24. One building is designated just for internal marketing, with cubicles and desks everywhere. Right behind me I can cross the railroad tracks and go to Caffe Mac. There are five gyms on campus.”

Circular Apple Campus 2, which Jobs announced in April 2006, is expected to open late next year or early 2017 on 175 acres.

Its appearance has been likened to a spaceship with every glass pane curved.

The new campus houses 13,000 employees in a 2.8 million-square-foot facility with a 1,000-seat auditorium, 300,000 square feet of research and development, fitness facilities, an orchard and a generating plant powered by natural gas and other environmentally sound means.

“Windows open at the same time, creating a circular draft so they don’t have to air condition,” Souza said. “I work 9 to 5 and stay in a mini-apartment with a kitchen. They pay for it all and give me a rental car and gas so I can go where I want nights and weekends. They fly me out and back. If I visit home I have to pay myself, which isn’t terrible because I’m getting paid while I’m there and don’t have to pay for anything.”

“Cupertino is on the bay between San Jose and San Francisco. I think there’s potential to stay. I don’t really want to live in California because it’s so expensive, but I would to work for Apple. I’m excited to have this career experience to see if I really want to work for Apple corporate.”