The Enid Regional Development Alliance (ERDA) in partnership with area businesses has a summer of working, learning, and creating lasting memories planned for participating Enid Summer Interns.
Many of the interns are local to Oklahoma, but others are from Missouri, Iowa, Florida, and Wisconsin. Each of the students were recruited during college fairs or directly by businesses and have the opportunity to stay in free or reduced cost housing provided in partnership with Northern Oklahoma College.
“One of the goals of this program is to demonstrate the quality of life in Enid,” shared intern coordinator Debbie Moore. “As these students prepare to graduate college and make decisions about where they will live, work, and play in the near future, we hope they will remember their positive experience here and consider Enid.”
In addition to the work being done with employers where they learn skills relevant to their field of study, they are also assigned a mentor to help guide them, and social events are planned to showcase Enid and provide networking opportunities. Some activities include attending an Oklahoma Flying Aces arena football game, pizza with the Enid Young Professionals at Enid Brewing Company, a ghost tour, the summer Chautauqua program in the park, Shakespeare in the Park, Enid Main Street’s First Friday events, live music events, a coffee shop hop, and more.
“This is my first year to intern, and I’m enjoying learning more about Mechanical Engineering while working for GEFCO,” said Connor McAlister, intern with GEFCO, Inc. and student at Oklahoma State University. “In addition, I have enjoyed experiencing the culture of Enid.”
“Character, Chemistry, and Competency are some of the core items that we look at when picking new employees, including interns,” stated Eric Hernandez with GEFCO, Inc. “We want to make sure that our interns come away with valuable knowledge that will impact their career and that each intern will decide to come back to Enid and work at GEFCO when they graduate.”
The Enid Summer Internship Program began the first week of June and will take place until the end of July.
To learn more about the Enid Summer Internship Program contact the Enid Regional Development Alliance at (580)233-4232 or info@growenid.com.
