In person, online and from campus, TCU Neeley School of Business student interns are gaining a wealth of hands-on, real-world experience with some of the most respected companies in the world. Amazon, Bain & Company, BNSF Railway, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, McKesson Corp., Microsoft, Nike and Samsung are some of the powerhouses being added to Horned Frog résumés this summer.
While some internships are in person, others remain remote — including many housed on campus at Neeley.
“Part of the vision when building the new Neeley School was that the space would be used as a crash space between students and the business community. While we didn’t envision a global pandemic and students having to conduct internships 100% virtually, it was an easy decision on how to pivot the space usage,” said Jessica Cates, director of the Alcon Career Center at Neeley.
This summer, Neeley students are using interview rooms, team rooms and collaboration spaces to work.
“Having a space for them to come to every day helps elevate their professional experience and gives them a greater level of confidence. Dell, Credit Suisse, DaVita, BMO, McCann, etc. — all working out of the same building. Multiple industries and functions interacting in one space. That was the vision and it is so cool to see it play out,” Cates said.
Dell’s ‘Neeley campus’
Among those officing at Neeley this summer are Dell Technologies virtual interns and full-time employees, who use a classroom in Smith Hall a couple of days a week.
“Dell is a great recruiting partner for the Neeley School. They are very active in hiring and other engagement — case competitions, classroom projects, etc. Neeley alum Hien Tran was brainstorming ways to get their virtual interns together and we had the space,” Cates said.
Dell’s culture is one of the biggest reasons people want to work for — and inevitably stay at — Dell, said Tran, Supplier Diversity & Innovation Program manager at Dell, who earned his BBA in supply and value chain management and entrepreneurial management in 2017.
“We — Dell TCU alums and the recruiting team — wanted to give our interns and recent-grad full-time hires an opportunity to have a sense of the Dell community and replicate some sort of ‘normal’ working environment that is representative of ‘Dell culture.’ So we reached out to the great team at the Neeley Alcon Career Center to assist us in coordinating these working sessions,” Tran said.
At peak times, as many as five interns and four full-time Dell team members are working together in space at Smith Hall. While not sponsored or endorsed by Dell Technologies, the informal gathering space simply provides an environment for TCU students and alumni working remotely for Dell to share office space, collaborate and interact.
“Dell’s culture is people centric with a focus on development. Being in person during this tough time where we have gone virtual allows interns/team members to be able to lean on one another, support one another and further develop relationships in person rather than just through virtual mediums,” Tran said.
Remote from Neeley
Horned Frogs serving internships that — pre-pandemic — would have been in New York, California, Houston or Dallas are working remotely from Neeley interview and team coaching rooms for such companies as BMO, Citi, McCann, CrowdStrike and Epsilon.
“Last summer when campus was closed but there was a need for students to have professional spaces for internships, alumni offered commercial office space for students. Now that campus is open, we were able to use spaces in Neeley for students. It has been so fantastic having the activity in the building this summer and students seem to be energized having others around,” Cates said.
Using a Neeley interview room, Anna Murrey, a senior finance and accounting major in the John V. Roach Honors College who hails from Memphis, Tennessee, has been working remotely for Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking and Capital Markets Division in New York. (Beginning July 26, she gets to work in person at the New York office.)
As a summer analyst in the Ultra High Net Worth and Family Office group, she gets to sit in on virtual client calls and work on projects involving creating pitches for new deals, updating loan agreements and researching clients.
“I am learning a lot. I knew very little about loans coming into the internship besides the simple mechanics, and I can confidently say I know much more now. It’s hard to sum it all up, but I would say I am learning a lot of technical information and professional skills tied to networking and to presenting information in whatever medium is required,” Murrey said.
The highlight has been the people.
“The opportunity to talk and to work directly with the VPs and directors of the group has been a unique experience. I have loved hearing their backgrounds and experiences that have led them to the roles they hold. I have learned a lot about possibilities for my future career on top of technical and analytical skills. I am very thankful to Neeley for giving me a space to work,” Murrey added.
Virtually, from home
Nolan Dearborn, a senior business information systems major from Orange, California, is working remotely from his house in Fort Worth as a summer intern on Microsoft’s account management team, focusing on implementation orchestration for its enterprise customers.
“My team works with some high-level customers like Disney, Tesla and Facebook, where we’ll build proactive programs to ensure their cloud adoption journey goes as smoothly as possible,” Dearborn said.
Projects include building a power app to provide the account team with curated financial information about customers, composing an implementation plan to upgrade a customer’s cloud security features, and orchestrating a mentorship program for more than 150 employees in his region.
“I’m learning how to best to deal with ambiguity, stand out in such a high-performing environment and communicate with heightened levels of professionalism. I was worried that at such a big company, I’d get lost in the crowd. I can confidently say that hasn’t been the case — but instead I’ve done more than I could’ve imagined and I still have a month left,” said Dearborn, who is looking forward to joining Microsoft full time following spring graduation.
Michael Phillips, a junior marketing major, is interning remotely for Samsung Electronics America from his home in St. Charles, Illinois.
As an intern on the New Computing Product Management team, Phillips analyzes consumer perceptions surrounding various display technologies and creates strategic marketing and branding initiatives. For example, he explored how consumers view AMOLED technology, a type of display technology used in smart phones, tablets and PCs.
The experience is helping Phillips develop his communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.
“I have learned how to think strategically and analytically, utilizing a variety of technical programs. Each day, I am surrounded and guided by inspiring and influential leaders, allowing for rapid growth and development. At Samsung, collaboration is key to success, and working with new individuals requires constant learning,” Phillips said.
Hybrid intern
Last summer, Kristen Fernando, a junior business information systems major in the John V. Roach Honors College from Southlake, Texas, served a virtual internship with Toyota Industries Commercial Finance. This summer, she returned to TICF in a hybrid internship.
“The opportunity to experience the Toyota culture in person is something for which I am grateful. Meeting with others in person has been a great experience. I have built numerous connections via Teams, but nothing compares to interacting in person,” Fernando said.
Last summer, she was a commercial finance intern, and this summer she is a data analytics operations intern.
“Although I am at the same company, each experience is unique, and together they have taught me the importance of evaluating risks and opportunities. Ultimately, these internships and my time at TCU have influenced me to pursue a career where I can be successful, give back to society and make a difference in the world,” Fernando said.
In person on the rails
For her role as a transportation intern with the operations department at BNSF Railway, Serena Nguyen, a junior supply and value chain management major from Fort Worth, relocated to Houston for the summer.
One of her projects involves making recommendations to increase efficiency through decreasing dwell time on trains in one of the Houston rail yards.
“Originally, the plan was to approach the recommendations by changing the locations of inbound and outbound trains, but after analyzing the data and structure of the yard, I will pivot my approach and primarily focus on the overall decreasing of dwell time using a different method,” said Nguyen, who will present her recommendations to division leaders at the end of her internship.
Nguyen has ridden trains and blown the horn, visited numerous rail yards, witnessed the process of changing the rails on a track, and shadowed in BNSF’s transportation, mechanical, engineering, marketing and security departments.
“Through my time as an intern, I have learned how all the departments operate together and make the railroad run. I have learned about the vitality of the railroad in the country’s economy, the technological advancements involved in the operations and what it takes to keep BNSF at the forefront of the freight transportation industry,” Nguyen noted.
She said it’s hard to pinpoint just a single internship highlight: “The experience I have had during these past few months is unparalleled to anything I have ever experienced before. The internship has been hands-on, has allowed me to provide valuable input to the company and has given me a worldview of the successful operations within a supply chain. I can honestly say that this has been one of the best summers of my life, and I look forward to bringing my newly profound knowledge back to the TCU community and into my future career.”