Welcome to an exciting event that promises to empower our new 2023 Summer Interns a successful journey ahead! The Lunch and Learn – TedTalk Edition was designed with one mission in mind – to inspire, educate, and support our interns as they embark on their professional careers. With an incredible lineup of speakers including our CEO, General Counsel, and former intern turned employee, the event aimed to provide invaluable insights and motivation for our talented interns.
Our interns began with learning from the top; our CEO, Steve Karlovic, took the stage to not only share personal stories, but also lessons from his own professional journey. Steve emphasized the importance of resilience, adaptability, and continuous learning in the face of challenges our interns might encounter throughout their growing careers. While also providing a background of CDI, our CEO shared our mission statement and core values, our strategies we enabled while going into 2022. Steve also presented a multitude of CDI’s recent awards including our EcoVadis Silver Medal and Engineering News – Record “2022 Top 600 International Design Firms” achievement. The CEO’s message resonated with our interns, instilling a sense of determination and vision among them.
Shubham Chavan, a Summer 2023 Process Intern, had this to say regarding the event: “Embracing the Past, Inspiring the Future: Our Lunch and Learn journey was enriched as former CDI interns, including the visionary Mr. Karlovic, illuminated our path with their invaluable experiences. Their stories remind us that today’s seeds sown with dedication and learning, blossom into tomorrow’s achievements. Together, we feast on knowledge and pave the way for a nourished and enlightened future.”
Following the moving message from our CEO, we proceeded to dive into the legal landscape with help from our General Counsel, Justin Ittmann. Justin provided insight to our interns with valuable advice on navigating legal aspects of the corporate world. Justin discussed the significance of ethical decision – making, attention to detail, and teamwork to ensure a successful career. As a lawyer and engineer, who holds multiple Professional Engineering Licenses, Justin also gave a look into marine engineering and how he balances both work in the legal and engineering fields. Our interns left Justin’s speech with a deeper understanding of corporate ethics, legal compliance, and a glance at marine engineering.
After Justin’s informative speech, the interns were introduced to a past intern herself, Margaret “Maggie” Wood. Maggie exemplifies a success story of an employee who began their career as a CDI intern, who after graduating, was hired on as a full time Mechanical Engineer. Maggie shared insights to the transformative experience she undertook from internship to full time employment, of which she still worked at CDI while finishing up her bachelor’s degree. She recounted the challenges she faced, the lessons she learned, and the amazing mentorship that shaped her career path. Maggie’s words of advice, growth, and determination inspired the interns who were now shown someone who was once in their very shoes.
Evan Cobb, a Summer 2023 Control Systems Intern, had this to say as well: “As an intern for CDI, I already get to work with some amazing engineers, but the Lunch & Learn brought to light the many different levels it takes to run a successful business like CDI, and left me with the thought of where my career might go in the future!”
The Lunch and Learn – TedTalk Edition was an unforgettable experience for our Summer 2023 Interns. They left the event feeling inspired, motivated, and well – prepared for the exciting challenges that lie ahead. The insights shared by our CEO, General Counsel, and intern turned employee served as beacons of guidance for the interns as they continue on their paths towards success. CDI would like to thank our 13 interns from 11 different universities who participated in the Lunch and Learn: Andres Vega, Carey Songey, Carter Shaefer, Evan Cobb, Joseph Berthelot, Julia Goldberg, Lan Skaff, Mary Kris Dimaculangan, Molly Baker, Reece Delatte, Ryan Shaefer, Shubham Chavan, and Yana Abney. As we continue to invest in nurturing our future talent, we are confident that these empowered interns will soon become the driving force behind CDI’s continued growth and success.