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Summer interns accelerate learning

Jul 31, 2013

Source: Monocello, Jenna

The Summer 2013 Erie Interns pictured in front of the newly rennovated Customer Innovation Center. Each summer, fall and spring semester many new faces appear at GE Transportation locations across the U.S. With more than 360 students beginning their work in early June, the summer interns were hard not to notice. GE is well-known for its excellent training programs and internship opportunities. Worldwide, the business invests about $1 billion yearly on training and education programs. For several years, Transportation has been investing in interns and co-ops who make valuable contributions while gaining work experience and earning college credits. Many of these summer interns return for future internships with GE, while others are accepted into various program roles such as OMLP, EEDP, FMP and CLP, to name just a few. This years group in was very diverse, majoring in more than 30 different subjects ranging from Engineering to Public Relations. They travelled by plane, car and train from over 80 colleges and universities across the country so that they could make an impact on not only GE, but also the surrounding communities. Transportation interns are spread geographically throughout 13 cities across the country from Grove City, PA to Melbourne, FL to Fort Worth, TX. The largest group is located in Erie with 278 interns. About 70% of these interns live in student housing at nearby Mercyhurst College throughout their internship, so the experience becomes not just a job but a way of life during the summer months. Jessica Berry, an FMP intern in Kansas City, says that while she enjoyed being among so many other interns during her stay in Erie last summer, she found that at the end of the day finance at GE is all the same. I like my role now, because the projects that I am analyzing are global and span across multiple countries. After now completing three different internships with GE, Jessica feels confident that she wants to pursue a corporate finance career in the company. As an accounting major, her professors often encourage their students to enter into public accounting. Without her internship at GE, Jessica may have followed that path. Now that she gained so much experience in finance, however, she feels the corporate culture at GE is a much better personal fit. Cuyler Lewis, Customer Fulfillment intern for Mining in Erie, also learned a lot more about general business processes during his internship. He was amazed at the interdependence of all the different functionalities at GE. When something isnt working or is flawed in one area, it will have a major effect on nearly every other department as well. I was truly impressed on how the business is set up to work and grow as one whole company rather than as separate departments. Cuyler explained that his internship taught him invaluable lessons about business and provided him with resources to succeed in the future lessons that he feels could not be taught in school. When I go back to school, I am going to be much more motivated to learn because I was able to see how what we are taught in class is actually put into action in the workplace. The interns did not stop representing GE after their 40 hour work-weeks. Many of them got involved with committees for Community Service, Social, Professional Development and Communications. These committees developed leaders by encouraging members to organize events for interns, other employees and other stakeholders. The various committees worked to unite the interns while at work as well as after hours by providing community service events, presentations from key leaders at GE, and trips to nearby cities. They also created a website and a newsletter to be sent out weekly to the group. Many of the interns will complete their assignments on August 2nd. To celebrate a summer well-spent, the social committee in Erie has organized a banquet at the Bayfront Convention Center on Thursday, August 1st. Interns at other sites also will be hosting farewell dinners and team lunches to end the summer. Thank you to all the interns who devoted their summer to bettering GE and the surrounding communities. Good luck, stay motivated, and never stop learning.

http://trans.home.ge.com/portal/site/insidege/fullstory?content_id=6080107&root_portlet_id... 8/7/2013

insideGE : Business News - Business : Summer interns accelerate learning

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Comments

GE talent starts at this level and grows exponentially from here. Thanks for all the hard work this summer and good luck! Posted by Ryan Linker at 08:34 am ET, 02 Aug 2013

I attended a co-op engineering school (Kettering Univ; formerly GMI). From that experience, I have come to appreciate the value that an internship brings to your ongoing academic studies. The three interns that joined my team for the summer provided great value to our objectives. I hope (and believe) that they got equal personal and professional growth value from their work assignments and interactions with their teammates. The time went fast. We wish you all well. Have fun and be safe. Posted by Kenneth Burney at 03:32 pm ET, 01 Aug 2013

GE talent starts at this level and grows exponentially from here. Thanks for all the hard work this summer and good luck! Posted by Ryan Linker at 08:34 am ET, 02 Aug 2013

I attended a co-op engineering school (Kettering Univ; formerly GMI). From that experience, I have come to appreciate the value that an internship brings to your ongoing academic studies. The three interns that joined my team for the summer provided great value to our objectives. I hope (and believe) that they got equal personal and professional growth value from their work assignments and interactions with their teammates. The time went fast. We wish you all well. Have fun and be safe. Posted by Kenneth Burney at 03:32 pm ET, 01 Aug 2013

http://trans.home.ge.com/portal/site/insidege/fullstory?content_id=6080107&root_portlet_id... 8/7/2013