MORRISVILLE — Lenovo hosted an intern showcase last Thursday at its Morrisville headquarters to celebrate the achievements of 31 Triangle-area students chosen to participate in the organization’s summer internship program, now in its ninth year. With four decades of experience in personal computers and global technology, Lenovo is active in more than 180 markets and manufactures most of its products in its facilities.
“Our vision is to create smarter technology for all, and one of the ways that we really lean into that is through the Lenovo Foundation and the work we do giving back to our community,” Libby Richards, Lenovo’s community engagement manager, said. Richards said the internship program is a big part of that as it aligns with the Lenovo Foundation’s mission of “providing access to technology and STEM education for underrepresented or underserved populations all across the world.”
The internship initiative is part of the company’s partnership with the educational nonprofit NAF, a nationwide charitable organization that collaborates with schools and businesses nationwide to foster opportunities for those who have recently or are soon to graduate from high school. The goal is to allow students to gain real-world experience in a specific area of the workforce or skill set development to enhance their readiness to face the competitive job market.
Richards said Lenovo Foundation’s partnership with NAF helps them recruit students in the Triangle. Rising seniors and recent high school graduates from five area high schools who applied and were selected after a vetting process were embedded in different departments of the company for six weeks.
Richards said the internship program has been a win-win proposition from the viewpoint of the students and the managers involved.
“We are always willing to partner with young people or provide that insight to young people around career discernment as well,” she said. “We had great managers this summer, but also some professional development and personal development opportunities for the students, where staff were sharing their time, sharing their expertise, and helping these students through their internship experience.”
In return, she said the Lenovo leadership team gained “amazing contributions over the past six weeks” from the interns, particularly as their knowledge base and confidence grew and the students learned the value of working together to achieve important objectives.
“These students aren’t just filing papers,” Richards said. “They’re not filling coffee cups.”
Richards said Lenovo interns “are embedded in the business units and getting hands-on experience with the various projects they’re assigned to,” giving students a sense of accomplishment and real work experience they can use to build their resumes and professional portfolios. Interns were assigned to various departments, from engineering to product management, while others worked closely with the company’s security, sponsorship, event/promotion and sales teams.
Feedback from the department managers and the interns is considered invaluable to the program’s success as Lenovo seeks to improve the program each year in the hopes the skills it helps its interns develop will encourage them to want to return and work with Lenovo in the future.
Richardson said Lenovo benefits from the internship program in many ways.
“I know I’ve heard managers talk about how having the insight of someone who is 16 to 18 years old (is beneficial). … That’s not something that we’re able to capture all that regularly,” Richards said. “So being able to have those fresh ideas from a young mind, that’s good too. It keeps us on our toes, keeps us knowing what’s trendy.”
