Special Olympics Internship

Alicia Bridge

I started my internship with the Special Olympics Fox Valley Region this August. The Special Olympics is a non-profit organization providing people with cognitive disabilities the right to compete as athletes. Although we are required by UW Oshkosh to complete an internship before graduation, I feel honored to have gotten myself this internship. I can go there, knowing I am making a difference in people’s lives while still being "at work". Not many people can say this! I have spent the beginning of my internship in event planning working on the event Bowl for Champions. The Special Olympics teams up with the local police forces to hold this event and raise money while bowling.


My favorite part of this internship is how much my job relies on the community for help. It has shown me that the community will come through and help for a good cause. At first I was shy asking for things such as donations, but this internship has helped me gain the self confidence I will need when entering the real world. I also love the fact that every time I go into the office I complete multiple different tasks. I am usually always doing something different which is nice for a change of pace. Some duties include finding donations, getting volunteers, getting companies to support us, Bowl for Champions event, Lock Up A Cop, creating awards and prizes and lastly and most importantly, the Polar Plunge. I am very excited to start working on the Polar Plunge event. Last year, nearly $380,000 was raised during Polar Plunge and it is a very big event that I am happy to be a part of.


My experience with the Special Olympics has been a huge success. I honestly couldn't be happier with an internship program. My supervisor is very nice and willing to help with any questions I have. I also love that it has given me so much hands on experience with event planning, considering that is not a major or minor offered by UW Oshkosh. It has helped me realize I am capable of succeeding in business and gain confidence within the community. It has also made me really want to get a job within a non-profit, or at least volunteer. I now plan on being a lifetime volunteer with the Special Olympics. The only problem with this internship is there isn't much opportunity for growth considering there are only two people in the office, although continuing with this organization would be awesome!

ThedaCare Internship

Katelyn Frassetto
Accounting/Finance Intern

I am currently an Accounting/Finance Intern with ThedaCare. ThedaCare is community health system that includes four hospitals, twenty-two physician locations, residential facilities for senior citizens and multiple ThedaCare at Home, ThedaCare at Work, and ThedaCare Behavioral Health Services locations. Through all of our locations we provide medical care for over 150,000 individuals each year. As the intern at our corporate office, I have the opportunity to experience many different aspects and be involved in many of the processes of operating a non-for-profit organization.

In my position I am responsible for a wide variety of tasks, which is one of my favorite aspects of the internship. I am not tied down to just journal entries or just asset management. So far I have been involved in many processes and responsibilities. My largest project has been compiling information for our 990 tax return and learning the tax requirements of a non-for-profit organization. Through this experience I was able to learn a lot about the account structure and flow of assets in hospitals, physician services, our corporate office and other entities. I also had direct contact with our outside public accounting firm, which gave me great experience in building professional relationships and confidently communicating financial information.

Some of my other responsibilities or projects I have been or will be involved in include asset and capital management, preparation of end of year financial statements, mileage and account audits, liability insurance renewals, balance sheet and bank reconciliations, regulatory research, cost justification, company audit, other tax reporting requirements, retention program improvement, automation of documents and still others.

One of the few challenges I faced is when I first started. I was completely unaware of what to expect. To my delight, the people here are all very helpful. I was worried I was going to be overwhelmed and thrown into projects larger than what I was capable of. But I was proven wrong very quickly. My supervisor is very understanding and knows how to motivate people. He allows someone to grow in their position in their own way. He knows how to give just enough guidance and let you run with it. He helps me strive to reach my full potential even if I don’t know what that is or how to achieve it.

I have learned so much in the little time I’ve been here so far. Working at ThedaCare is helping me define my career path choices. I know an organization like ThedaCare would definitely be somewhere I would want to work. I know to look for a culture and company that values and motivates its employees. Due to the varied experiences I now have, I also know more about which area of accounting I want to pursue. I have also learned how to professionally present myself.

The biggest difficulty I have encountered so far is my lack of confidence. Being in a professional environment surrounded by very intelligent and successful people was quite intimidating at first. Yet, the most significant improvement I have noticed is the confidence I now have in myself and my abilities. Initially I was inhibited and afraid to ask for projects or things to work on because I was afraid I would be unable to succeed, fulfill the requirements or do something wrong. My supervisor and coworkers have been extremely helpful in mentoring me and teaching me that everyone make mistakes and needs assistance. They have showed me how much I learned from the College of Business and how I truly am able to apply that knowledge. Now, I willingly ask for projects because I am much more confident and I realize they are opportunities for me to learn, not to fail. I encourage anyone starting an internship not to hesitate. You will miss out on very rewarding and beneficial learning opportunities.

My experience so far has been very rewarding. I feel very appreciative for this opportunity. I have gained an extraordinary amount of hands on experience and real world knowledge. Overall it is an honor to be a part of the ThedaCare team and work with such amazing people. ThedaCare’s accounting/finance department is making huge leaps in providing better quality and cheaper costing healthcare and I am honored to be a part of their success and innovation.

Georgia Pacific Internship

Christopher Bauer
Georgia Pacific Internship

I am currently a Systems Analysis / Programmer for Georgia Pacific. GP is a leading manufacturer and distributor of paper products around the world. Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, GP employs over 50,000 people across the globe. I work out of the Green Bay office supporting the Transportation division.

The team that I am a part of is responsible for the Information System that moves over $1.3 billion dollars worth of paper products each year. The system is a home-grown beast which processes information from different locations across North America. We process this information and present it in an organized fashion for users. Every day is a new experience and I never know what the system is going to throw at me. My responsibilities include re-writing program code, in-depth analysis of the system to determine where improvements could be made, debugging code to find bugs and making hotfixes, and participating in projects during the full project life cycle.

This experience has been very rewarding and has helped confirm my choice in studies here at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. It has given me the hands on experience needed outside of the classroom to apply my skills that I have been taught and build additional knowledge. Additionally, it has helped me increase my business skills including proper etiquette, better communication, and problem solving abilities. This experience has also helped me realize what is all involved in operating a large scale information system.

I have had many different challenges that I have had to overcome since beginning my internship back in June. I have always thought that I was a very organized person, but when I am trying to juggle 4-5 projects, monitoring emails, team meetings, system alerts, etc., I found that I wasn’t as organized as I thought. It took a little while to adjust to the workload, but after a couple weeks of getting in routine everything started getting done in a timely fashion. The other big challenge was trying to figure out how the system worked. With so many large pieces flowing into the system, it took a while to figure out all of the pieces to the system and why there were there. Once I knew how the system was designed to work and how each part goes with another, it made analysis much easier and writing program code much simpler.

I am honored to be a part of Georgia Pacific’s Transportation IT team and would not trade this experience for anything. I have been able to take the tools I’ve learned here on campus and apply my new found knowledge at the corporate level.

Pursuit magazine now available to students

Along with nearly 120 students on this campus, I am excited to see Pursuit magazine making it into the hands of College of Business students today.

This publication is an example of a successful collaboration between two departments on campus (Marketing and Journalism) and contains forty-four pages of know-how for students by students. As project advisor, I can attest to the fact that countless hours have went into this publication to ensure that the content is relevant, interesting and useful. We have included tips and tools for every business student such as steps to picking a major, ways to improve the chances of earning a scholarship and creative ways to get an internship. The editorial staff has laid out resources for nontraditional students, researched ways to use social media as a professional, included a how-to studying abroad and created tips for setting yourself apart from your future competition in the job market.

The feature story takes readers through a day in the life of three College of Business alumni: Katy School, Adam Bremberger and Dan Washkoviak. (Thanks to Katy School who is featured on our front cover.)

If you haven’t heard about Pursuit magazine before, I invite you to check it out at www.uwosh.edu/cob/publications or grab a free copy from the College of Business Undergraduate office in Clow 151.

Junior and seniors will receive their copy from the College’s Student Ambassadors in classes this week (and maybe next) and copies will be available at College Networking Night on September 22^nd. Pre-business students will receive their copy during advising sessions and copies will be available in the undergraduate office.

From my experience in the field, I know there is nothing better than seeing your story in print. I am excited for all of the students that contributed to this publication get to see their hard work in print this week. I am also eager to learn the student’s response to this publication. Feel free to contact me at baumgard@uwosh.edu or leave a comment to this post.

Happy reading!

Dana Baumgart

5th Annual COB Networking Night

5th Annual College of Business Networking Night
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Oshkosh Convention Center

5-8 pm

UW Oshkosh College of Business Networking Night:
An event that connects more than 700 College of Business students to over 200 employers by creating relationships while students explore career options within their major and develop/enhance their professional networking skills.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The College of Business Networking Night is quickly approaching!

This incredible opportunity to network with professionals is perfect whether you are looking for an internship, full-time position or just need more direction on what you are looking for in a career. Even if you are not currently seeking an internship or full-time position, this event is a great way to learn and practice professional networking skills.

Are you prepared?

With less than a month to go, now is a great time to start gathering your professional attire and creating your business cards. It is also a good time to start researching potential companies you would like to network with at the event. Below is a list of businesses that will be in attendance.

2010 Businesses in Attendance:
(as of 8/25/10)

Platinum Sponsor:
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network - The Holter Group

Alta Resources
Baker Tillly Virchow Krause
Bemis
C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.
Cintas
Direct Supply
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Federated Insurance
Frito Lay
Great Northern Corp.
JJ Keller & Associates
Miles Kimball
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network - The Blevons Group
Nsight
Oshkosh Corporation
Primerica Financial Services
Prudential
Schenck SC
SECURA Insurance
Sherwin-Williams
Society Insurance
Target
The Knight Group
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
US Bank
Vogel Consulting
Wells Fargo Financial
Wipfli LLC

Watch for upcoming emails with event details.

For more information, schedule of events and event preparation, click here.

Tocqueville Asset Management

Brian Krieger
BBA: Accounting

Tocqueville Asset Management focuses on contrarian value investing. The firm has about $8 billion under management. Tocqueville has six funds as well as many private accounts. I spend most of my time working with the Tocqueville Gold Fund.

The internship has a lot of freedom. The theme is you get what you put into it. I basically have the freedom to choose my own path. I told my superior I was interested in the precious metals industry and I was immediately introduced to the senior analyst of the Tocqueville Gold Fund. I have been working under him ever since. We do have somewhat of a “base” program, but the majority of my time is spent doing work that I have direct influence on.

Typically, I am given (or I choose) a company to look at. I start by trying to understand the industry if I am not familiar with it. Then I start looking at the company’s annual report and quarterly filings and building a financial model. For example, I am looking at platinum mining companies right now, so I started by learning the platinum and palladium markets (supply, demand, industrial uses, etc). After I understood the platinum industry, I started researching specific companies within it.

Having a background in accounting has helped me immensely. Knowing how the financial statements flow together is vital to my position since we often recreate them and project out into the future.

I have learned a lot in the first month of my internship. Some of the most valuable knowledge I gain is from our internal meetings. I am able to absorb how very intelligent individuals think about the market. It’s something that you will never learn from a textbook.

We (there are 3 other interns) are also allowed to sit in, with some limitations, meetings with CEOs, CFOs, industry analysts, etc. It is a great experience. I also have access to a variety of information sources that I would never have been exposed to if I was not working here.

The other analysts are always willing to help the interns out. They take time out of their day to show us what they are working on and give us a lot of valuable information.

My main challenge was encountered the first week of the internship. I had no idea what to expect. To my (pleasant) surprise, the work environment is very easy going and promotes self discipline. Spending all day surrounded by individuals on a whole different intellectual level as yourself creates motivation to put in extra time and effort to learn as much as I can while I’m here.

I didn’t really know what to do at first. My expectations were that I would show up and they would just tell me what to do. It took me a few days to realize I was going to have to put myself out there to get the most out of this experience. The challenge was having the courage talk to my superiors to open up new opportunities. In hindsight, I should have never hesitated since the culture here eliminates the typical company hierarchy. Overall, its a great experience being able to work alongside so many intelligent people.

Target

Alexandra Bourke
BBA: Human Resources

Target is a company that has a large focus on leadership development, along with being the best company ever. When many students think of an internship, they think of filing paper, refilling coffee, and making copies. The internship program at Target could not be farther from that. I have spent the first half of my ten-week internship learning and working in various areas of the store, and the second half is spent on a special project that focuses on improving the store specifically and possibly even improving Target’s fast, fun, and friendly culture.

The biggest challenge I faced transitioning from a college student to an executive intern was definitely the fact that I had no Target or retail experience in the past. However, as the internship progressed, I realized it was not a challenge at all. Tasks can be learned, it is energy, and passion that can’t be. In my position, I am a leader in the store. I have leadership experience daily in the forms of leader on duty, helping team members, and assisting guests in various areas of the store. In five short weeks I have gained leadership beyond what I imagined, and a love for business. In Target, the fast, fun, and friendly attitude is something that you see on all levels of our team. The team members are willing to lend a helping hand or a listening ear to anyone that needs it. I am honored to be a part of this team!