New Interns Gather In St. Cloud For Community Connections

In partnership with Granite Partners, Greater St. Cloud hosted the first ever community Intern Day with 36 local interns.  Greater St. Cloud Talent Impact Director Gail Cruikshank and Community Impact Intern at Granite Partners, Jordyn Patrick joined me on WJON, to discuss.

Intern Day (photo courtesy of Jordyn Patrick)

Intern Day

Gail says the goal of the event was to build community, deepen connections with fellow interns, learn more about community engagement and volunteerism and strengthen retention of talent and instill a sense of belonging.  Cruikshank says these 36 interns came from businesses in and around the St. Cloud area with many of them in their first week to 2 weeks of their internships.  She says this allows these individuals to get to know other young people starting out in their careers.

Organizing the Event

Jordyn's current position as a HR Analyst Intern at Granite Partners and former intern with Greater St. Cloud made her a natural fit to take part in and help organize the structure of this event.  Patrick says she helped with event planning in the past but never had this level of leadership before.  She says it was the best of both worlds for her helping with the execution of the event and being able to participate with other interns.

Intern Day (photo courtesy of Jordyn Patrick)

Topics

The topics covered at the event included financial wellness with Paul Radeke, networking with Shantelle Kane, elevator pitches with Josie Verchota, volunteering with the United Way and a community member panel discussion with Clare Richards, Emily Davis, and Jake Krippner.  The group discussed professional growth, personal wellbeing, network authentically, tips for young professionals and early career mistakes to avoid.

Interactive

Patrick says interns were given the opportunity to practice some of the ideas presented to them.  She says networking and working as part of a community was so important.  Patrick indicates interns have a great opportunity to show their work ethic in the framework where making mistakes can happen as they learn.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Gail and Jordyn, click below.