Railinc internships offer valuable, hands-on experience in areas ranging from IT to human resources to business operations. This summer, the company welcomed several high school and college students, and Railinc Corporate Communications caught up with some of them to learn about their experience.
Interns Find Ways to Learn, Grow and Contribute
Rhea Sodem previously interned with Railinc in the Internal Operations department. She returned this year to work with the Car Hire application, assisting with auditing the Car Accounting Self Service (CASS) system.
“One of the things I most enjoyed working on at Railinc was auditing Excel sheets because I was able to realistically apply skills that I have learned,” Rhea said. “I also learned more about how data is collected, read and stored in the railroad industry.”
Six other students participated in the software engineering program where they worked with different coding languages and helped maintain Railinc databases. Nick Smemoe worked on a project to create a database for Railinc’s information technology assets.
“The most exciting thing I have done is begin to design the website with which the Railinc database will be accessed,” Nick said. “Working with my fellow interns and the other people on my team really helps me gain a lot of experience in this field.”
Aaron Taylor, another software engineering intern, assisted in maintaining the codebase of various applications, including the Equipment Advisory System. “At Railinc, I’ve enjoyed working in a professional environment where I am pushed to learn alongside senior-level coworkers,” he said.
Interns Get Involved with Health & Wellness
Railinc encourages fitness, fun and accountability through its company Wellness Program, and the first-ever remote Wellness Intern, Grace Lombardo, created a summer challenge for employees. The challenge spanned three weeks and focused on creating healthier habits and being more mindful of mental health. Employees joined weekly stretch breaks hosted by Grace, spent time outside and attended a webinar where they learned how to follow better bedtime routines.
“Being able to create the wellness challenge for the company was very exciting,” Grace said. “Plus, my supervisor was a great role model and I loved working with her.”
Jacqueline Grimm, Railinc’s Wellness Coordinator, spoke highly of Grace and the internship program. “Our internship program focuses on employee engagement, providing resources on how to make healthy choices, and designing outreach programs to establish healthy behaviors,” she said. “I really enjoy having interns because I like to show them what to expect firsthand in a corporate wellness role, even if that means not being onsite every day. Grace was self-sufficient and took initiative when it came to completing her weekly assignments and tasks.”
Grace also provided content for Railinc’s internal wellness bulletin, which includes tips on how to stay healthy and important wellness information, and participated on the company’s wellness team with other Railinc employees.
Interns Make a Difference
Zach Nowlin graduated in May from East Carolina University and joined several of his ECU peers at Railinc. He was initially brought on as an Operations Intern and took on a handful of projects for different Railinc departments, including working in Railinc’s Customer Success Center (CSC). While working with the CSC team, he learned how to unlock customer accounts and implement Letters of Authorization (LOAs).
“I loved meeting everybody from the different departments and seeing how they make up the daily processes at Railinc,” Zach said. “I’m excited to be making a difference in the rail industry.”
After just a few weeks, Zach was promoted to a full-time position in CSC. He will now go through CSC’s 90-day training program where he will learn even more about Railinc products and processes and the freight rail industry.
- Railinc Corporate Communications