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Five Innovative Individuals Share What It’s Like to Be a 3M Intern
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Here at 3M, we offer 10 internship programs in a wide range of areas, all designed to give students the opportunity to work with world class experts and gain invaluable experience. In early August, after 10-12 weeks, we said goodbye to this year’s 327 summer interns working across the U.S. Read on to learn what a few of their experiences were like as 3M interns.
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Kendra Allen
Hometown: Chicago
School/Major: Iowa State, Ph.D. Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering
Team: 3M Stationery and Office Supplies Division within the Consumer business groupOriginally drawn to 3M because of her desire to work at a materials science company, this was Kendra’s fourth internship at 3M. “The work culture here fits how I am most productive and most successful,” she explained. “I’m able to collaborate with others and work on different things that aren’t necessarily in my area.”
She spent her time working on modeling and finding new materials that can be used in packaging protection for the Scotch™ brand.
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Josh Godbout
Hometown: Stillwater, Minn.
School/Major: University of Wisconsin Stout, Supply chain management
Team: 3M Sourcing division across the businessJosh was born and raised with 3M basically in his backyard. He was drawn here simply because he was familiar with the name and the range of areas 3M works across. “I always thought it was cool that a company like 3M can be so diverse in so many different areas and still be so successful,” he said.
Nonetheless, Josh was pleasantly surprised to find that every day he learned of a new area 3M technology touches that he didn’t already know about. One of his projects involved finding a supplier that can produce an exfoliating towel for 3M Mexico. Because they are open to sourcing the product globally, Josh got the opportunity to work with global suppliers and International Strategic Sourcing colleagues.
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Emily Bautista
Hometown: Florence, Kentucky
School/major: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Materials Science and Engineering
Team: Manufacturing, Optimized Operations (O2) programEmily is a seasoned 3M intern; her first internship was in the 3M Corporate Research and Materials Lab and the culture of fostering creativity and innovation is what drew her back a second time. But this summer she spent her days at 3M’s manufacturing plant in Menomonie, Wis., as an Optimized Operations (O2) intern. Part of her project involved looking at ways to improve the static control on the C5 coating line. She used the lens of Six Sigma to dig deep and determine where and how improvements can be made and sustained.
“Working in a plant, you never know what to expect. This is part of why I love what I do,” said Emily. “Each internship exposes you to new people and switching from the research to a manufacturing environment gives an even broader range of new experiences and culture.”
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Micah Pellerin
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana
School/Major: Indiana University, MBA Marketing
Team: 3M Strategic Marketing & Development across the businessMicah was first exposed to 3M in In Search of Excellence, a book he read that highlights some of America’s best-run companies. The book touched on themes like promoting autonomy in the workplace and diversity of thought – key attributes that he values in a potential employer.
As part of his internship, Micah was encouraged to explore and work within different areas of the company. He worked on developing a business plan for 3M in a new and emerging market. The plan leverages some of our company’s core competencies to provide a full-service solution for potential customers in this area.
One of the most pleasant surprises to him was the diversity 3M offers. “There are so many different types of touchpoints here; so many different types of people, attitudes and businesses. As we would say in New Orleans, it’s a true gumbo,” he said. “That’s important because we are a global company.”
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Atria Azarmi
Hometown: Tehran, Iran
School/major: Art Center College of Design, M.S. Industrial Design
Team: 3M Design in the Consumer Business GroupAtria spent the last five years in southern California and chose to come to 3M because she wanted to explore something new and different. She was familiar with our company’s strengths as a material science company, but she was blown away to find out how many different applications and technologies were being developed.
As part of the 3M Design Center, Atria worked alongside a team of designers and product developers to explore the Future of Work. They looked at the trends that will shape the work environments of the future as well as the jobs that will be created because of our ever-evolving technologies. “I want to be a futurist; someone who works in forecasting and envisioning our future world based on trend analysis … who creates the environment, services or products that will answer the needs of the people of the future and helps shape the future world.”
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Interested in an internship with 3M?
Visit the Internships page to learn more.
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