AVID senior Grace Cunningham just recently began her seven-month paid internship at the JBS company. 

Cunningham found this opportunity through the business courses at Greeley West. She had to apply to the internship and was one of 14 out of 144 applicants to get in. Cunningham was interested because of her desire to go into business in the future and her prior experience with an internship. “I had already done an internship during the summer, so I thought it would be fun to do another one, but with something different,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham’s internship deals with international logistics, as well as managing imports and exports. “So far, I have mostly just been learning about what the company does and gotten familiar with the space. I will get to start helping with orders soon too,” stated Cunningham. 

Cunningham’s mentor, Logistics Manager Justin Meyer has taught her about the complex companies’ day-to-day schedule and continues to give Cunningham a higher level view of what JBS does. Meyer said, “ I am here to support her and give her the tools needed to be successful in her future endeavors.”

A challenge has yet to be met by Cunningham because of how early in the internship she is in; however, she anticipates that there will be new challenges coming soon. Cunningham said,“I think when I have to start using Excel I will be challenged because I have never used it before.”

Meyer is aware of more challenges ahead for Cunningham, such as the specific industry terminology. “There is a steep learning curve, but Grace has been great so far at thinking of questions to gain deeper understanding,” stated Meyer.

The opportunity for growth in knowledge and skill at this internship is not unnoticed by Meyer. “I hope Grace leaves with not only a deeper understanding of the role logistics plays in all our day-to-day lives, but also an understanding of how businesses such as JBS are run. I hope she will leave here with the skills needed to be confident and successful upon entering the workforce,” Meyer said.