My Internship Experience by Meredith Shannon

At the end of this past May, I stuffed my car full of my belongings and drove up to southern Minnesota for the 11 week program as an Industrial Engineering Intern. I knew what the internship program entailed and the basic job description but my summer turned out to be so much more than that. My job took place in a massive plant that felt on par with a small city. I could hardly keep from getting lost and seemed to discover something new every day. As the plant IE intern, I had typical Industrial Engineering duties but was also included on a variety of high dollar projects. I was able to help work on new, old and ongoing projects with people from all different departments. They treated me as one of their own and it made a world of difference. I learned a lot about myself; what I can do, what I excel at and what I need to improve upon as an upcoming Industrial Engineer. Things were excitingly dynamic which made going to work an adventure each day. I felt as if I learned something new each day and never felt work become repetitive. Although plant life is far from glamorous, the hands on work that turned into successful projects far outweighed not being able to wear nail polish, having to wear functional clothes over fashionable clothes and never maintaining nice hair (hard hat hair is definitely a struggle). My takeaway from summer with Hormel is don’t ever be afraid to try something out of your comfort zone. I started as a city girl with little to no manufacturing experience and spent the whole summer outside of my comfort zone. Industry seems scary to those who have little experience, but it is incredible to have your projects and hard work pay off in an observable and tangible manner. As IR week comes to a close, don’t discredit companies who may seem intimidating or out of your desired work setting! You never know where the path less traveled may lead.