Menomonie, Wis. – University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic’s Cooperative Education and Internship Program (CEIP) is a fast-lane pipeline to success, providing students with applied learning experiences at regional, national and international companies within their professional field before they graduate. Of this year’s graduates, 77.4% were hired prior to graduation, while 99% of recent graduates were employed or furthering their education within six months of graduation.

Two supply chain management students recently shared about their summer co-ops and internships, highlighting their management and leadership experiences; challenges they overcame in communication and in independent projects; and their advice to other students:
– Katelynn Peterson: Michels Construction, Lomira
– Owen Whitney: Great Northern Corporation, Chippewa Falls

Peterson and Whitney were among 745 UW-Stout Polytechnic students enrolled in CEIP this summer. UW-Stout Polytechnic’s Career Outcomes site provides CEIP and First Destination reports, which show that 100% of recent supply chain graduates and 99% of business administration graduates are employed or furthering their education within six months of graduation, and have average starting salaries of $62,000 and $54,000, respectively.

Katelynn Peterson, Michels Construction, Lomira

Supply chain management, business administration and construction management are interconnected industries that transform ideas and resources into projects that improve the places where people live, work and gather.

Together, these fields offered Peterson opportunities to develop versatile skills, explore meaningful careers and see how her work can have a tangible impact. As a supply chain management major, she served as a business administration intern at Michels Construction Inc., in Lomira. She was one of the first interns placed in this role and managed more than 100 Michels interns.

She was even given the opportunity to take a day trip on a private jet to Syracuse, New York, to watch Project Yankee, where Michels is testing deep foundation pouring for Micron’s new microchip facility – a $100 billion, 680-acre-plus project.

“The opportunities are endless with Michels. If you want to try something new or go somewhere for more experience, Michels is more than willing to put you where you need to be. This company is incredibly flexible in developing a strong career through support, networking and experience,” said Peterson, of New Richmond.

As a business administration intern, Peterson managed 115 of the 335 interns in the program. She used Excel to manage information; monitored and managed time clocks for payroll processing using ExakTime; tracked dashcam alerts with Samsara; and audited receipts for thousands of transactions in Corpay.

Peterson and two fellow interns also created the Business Administration Playbook, a standard operating procedure (SOP) document that contained everything they did for the summer as a training guide for future business administration interns.

For other student interns entrusted with large responsibilities, she said, “Be confident! Having confidence in yourself, in your team, in your work, matters. Even if you aren’t sure about what you are doing, you can be confident in navigating the next best steps to get there. Others see this motivation, and it will only make them more confident in having you experience different things.”

Owen Whitney, Great Northern Corporation, Chippewa Falls

Great Northern Corporation, which manufactures packaging and retail displays, is headquartered in Appleton and has operations in five states. It employs more than 1,700 people nationwide, including more than 40 UW-Stout Polytechnic alumni. For more than 60 years, Great Northern has led the way in recyclable packaging, protective components, and retail display solutions that help customers succeed while minimizing environmental impact.

This summer, Whitney, a double major in business administration and supply chain management, served as a supply chain intern at Great Northern’s Chippewa Falls location. He worked independently to find areas of improvement within the company, developed solutions and ran
projects to implement those solutions.

“What interested me in interning with Great Northern was that not only would I get experience in a supply chain role, but I would also gain knowledge in how to run projects. Getting this real experience was valuable in many ways to me. It allowed me to learn that progress takes time, organization is vital, and that being resourceful is necessary in project management,” said Whitney, of Morristown, Minnesota.

Whitney enjoyed meeting staff members and making connections with people in different roles to understand how his role in Great Northern’s process worked from start to finish.

“I also really enjoyed having the freedom to choose my own projects. Being able to identify an area for improvement and then take the initiative to develop and implement a solution was very interesting and rewarding. It gave me the opportunity to take ownership of my work and see how my ideas could make a real impact,” he said.

Two projects Whitney helped with were transitioning Great Northern’s use of paper forms to document quality checks to a user-friendly digital format and developing a digital system to streamline the submission and approval process for employee ideas to improve operations.

“Overall, this project gave me experience designing an automated process from the ground up,” he said. Whitney encourages other students to pursue internships. “I know it sounds cliché, and I know everyone says it, but they are telling the truth,” he said. “Try to get one every year. Go to every career fair. I know they can be intimidating at first, but being uncomfortable is what creates some of the greatest growth. Eventually, you’ll start to see that discomfort turn into comfort, or at the very least, it won’t feel like something to fear anymore. That builds confidence, and that confidence builds you.”

About Career Services

Career Services’ programs and events invite students to connect with employers and include the biannual Career Conference Week, the Built Environment Career Fair, Wisconsin BioHealth Summit, Government & Nonprofit Career Fair and Internship Draft Day. CEIP received the 2024 annual Excellence & Innovation Stewards of Place award from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, “for its outstanding results and potential to influence and serve as a model for other institutions.”

UW-Stout Polytechnic offers more than 70 industry-aligned undergraduate and graduate degrees and 40 professional certificate programs. One of the 13 Universities of Wisconsin, UW- Stout Polytechnic is distinguished by applied learning and research, business and industry collaboration, and career-focused experiences to prepare students for success in engineering, technology, design, management and other fields.