Northeast Metro Business | Page 35

VHEDC HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
ERIK BOERNER White Bear Lake High School graduate Structural Wood Corporation
During the summer of 2016 , White Bear Lake High School graduate Boerner completed a short-term internship with Structural Wood Corporation ; he worked a 40 – 45 hour week , sometimes starting at 6 a . m ., was paid hourly by the company and received a stipend from VHEDC . Structural Wood , founded in 1965 , fabricates wood building materials for all types of buildings all across the country , from ice arenas to residential housing to large industrial complexes .
Boerner says , “ Structural Wood takes large pieces of wood and cuts them into smaller pieces of wood to fit the customers ’ needs . I tracked the time it takes for orders to go through production and put the data into reports . I did this for different areas in the fabrication building , for the Ripsaw and MultiScore ( saw ) and for the warehouse , where different items of large inventory are pulled for future orders .”
Structural Wood President Jim Schumacher created the position for an intern because he wanted unbiased information : “ We run operations so tight that we don ’ t have the luxury of tracking our own numbers . We have assumptions about our performance . We can now review the information and see how accurate we are . Erik met our expectations , and he ’ s an excellent young man .”
Currently , Boerner is studying business finance at Montana State University . He says , “ The internship – my first – was extremely rewarding . I got real-world working experience , unlike anything I ’ ve done before . It taught me to pay attention to details and to keep track of a large inventory process .”
ALISON PALM Century College student IPS Worldwide
Alison Palm graduated from Century College with an AAS degree in Marketing Communications Technology in 2016 and will complete coursework for a social media-marketing certificate in May . She says , “ I ’ m interested in a few different areas such as visual merchandising in fashion , graphic design for marketing materials , or social media marketing . I hope to find my niche before finishing my degree .”
At IPS Worldwide , Palm fulfilled 150 hours during the 2016 fall semester , working closely with Christina Schwartz , Human Resources & Marketing Manager . Her responsibilities included : LinkedIn posts – posts that highlight the current innovations of the company ’ s crane manufacturing at their Duluth location ; and communicating with outside design resources about IPS ’ s project goals .
IPS Worldwide is an OEM manufacturer of American & Ohio Locomotive Cranes & Parts . The company provides “ huge pieces of equipment ” not only across the country but also across the globe . Major building projects as far away as Africa , the Middle East and Europe rely on the uber-lifting power that IPS Worldwide services and manufactures in Vadnais Heights .
Palm says , “ I ’ ve been rewarded with the opportunity to learn about an industry I may have never explored on my own ; it ’ s a unique , thriving business that was interesting to be a part of .” Palm ’ s supervisor , Schwartz , says , “ It ’ s been wonderful to have a fresh set of eyes on our material . Alison has supported us with developing new marketing materials and the rebranding of our company .”
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