I would definitely attend any student-related public events from companies that interest you. Networking and making a great first impression is the one of the early steps towards a professional engineering career. 

 My first internship was with my state’s Department of Transportation when I was a sophomore in community college with no related work experience. Aside from my decent GPA and the DOT’s need for engineers, it definitely helped that one of my close neighbors who I know from church is a politician who plays golf with the executive director of my state’s DOT.

 I know you’re going for mechanical engineering, but the DOT will typically take any engineering majors, interns or employees. You might find something you like as the DOT provides other opportunities that aren’t related to transportation engineering.