“ … if they’re coming out of Saint John’s, you know they have that liberal arts requirement and that still weighs a lot for me.” —Pat Maurer ’89 with Kueppers that included time for reminiscing about Saint John’s and plotting a future. Nguyen hopes to run his own business one day, something his fellow Johnnie knows all about. “Brian talked about how he got inspired and started the company,” Nguyen says. “I just loved the story and how willing he was to share it with Johnnies. As an intern, I was working hard for the company’s success and was building my career path at the same time. As a full-time employee, I am still doing what I was doing.”
Pat Maurer ’89 (L) of Apex Information Technologies likes the opportunity that internships provide to observe students’ work habits and fit to company culture. Ken Nguyen ’12 (R) did an internship with Apex that developed into a fulltime job upon graduation.
It’s accepted wisdom that internships help college students. The same goes for study abroad programs, the overseas experiences offering opportunities for broadening a student’s outlook. Jeff Mord ’12 went one step further. Mord—who now works as a quality assurance analyst at Prime Therapeutics—combined study abroad in London with a London-based internship at Genetic Alliance UK,
Michael Applen
his internship through the staffing agency Aerotek, which works closely with the CSB/SJU internship program. At Apex, computer science major Nguyen performed IT duties, work that continued into the school year. “Our core business for our IT function is setting up new customers, doing some light programming and data mapping,” Maurer says. “In effect we were able to give Ken a part-time job during his senior year, where we could throw him 10 to 20 hours a week, whatever his schedule allowed him to do.” By nurturing that relationship with a Johnnie through the internship program, Apex landed an application engineer as soon as he graduated. “Because they’re Saint John’s interns,” Maurer says, “you take a little extra care to kind of teach them the inner workings of the company. You get to see the students in action, see how they fit the culture, see their work habits. And if they’re coming out of Saint John’s, you know they have that liberal arts requirement and that still weighs a lot for me.” Nguyen’s internship led not only to a job, but to relationships with mentors. The young Apex employee enjoys poker nights with his fellow Johnnies—who also happen to lead Apex. He fondly remembers a lunch outing
ONE STUDENT, TWO INTERNSHIPS
Joel Cherrico ’10, owner of Cherrico Pottery in St. Joseph, Minn., is building a successful pottery business. His interns get experience in small-business operations and management.
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