Earlier this year, we covered our recent dive into De La Salle North’s work-study program which gives interested students the chance to gain experience while doing billable work. Although this program is usually in-person, we all adjusted to virtual teaching, feedback rounds, and communicating across schedules and technical problems for this year. The De La Salle team was fantastic about coordinating with us and making this process as smooth as possible.
Catch up on this series with our Business, Education, and Interns Part 1 blog here.
Our student worker, Evelyn, was with us September 2020-May 2021. During this time, Evelyn assisted individuals from across our company (representing the administrative, business development, and commissioning teams). This was a great program that benefitted both parties: the student received real, career-work experience, and NWESI received valuable work from the student (and also allowed our staff to work on their teaching skills).
Some of the tasks Evelyn worked on included:
- From the Commissioning division—testing terminal units for the PDX Terminal Balance/Concourse E extension project.
- From the Business Development group—CRM data input; social media auditing and school bond research; building a project profile and learning how to connect with target markets.
In these exercises, we wanted to make sure Evelyn could learn skills applicable beyond our firm. Because of this, many of our tasks had a communications component that required critical thinking and understanding of what, where, and why.
“She was quick to learn not only the purpose and application behind the software, but also the functionality of its features. She also got a glimpse of the team dynamic when receiving communication from various colleagues.”
-Nancy, Client Relations Administrator
Of her recent experiences, Evelyn says, “Thanks to this experience, I’ve learned more about responsibility and commitment. One of the most interesting tasks was analyzing data and graphs, it took a lot of critical thinking and that’s why I found it really interesting. Other things I really enjoyed doing were working with CRM and looking into other projects and social media platforms…These stood out to me because I learned more about critical thinking, and how communication and marketing work.”
We’re excited to continue working with De La Salle for the 2021-22 school year and see what new projects us and our student can accomplish together.
Published June 2021. Photo courtesy of De La Salle North.
