During the University of Minnesota's third annual Welcome Week, the Carlson School Undergraduate Program gave its fall 2010 freshmen (about 500 students) a sneak peek at the strong Minneapolis and St. Paul business communities on Thursday, September 2. The students visited companies such as Cargill, Ecolab, General Mills, Land 'O Lakes, Old Dutch, Target, Toro, and Travelers. These local organizations contain a large contingency of our alumni, who interacted with the students and welcomed them to the Carlson School family.

"We had a great time with the Carlson students during Welcome Week," said Nick Koewler, college relations program lead, Land 'O Lakes. "The opportunity to get the students in a corporate setting early on in their college career is not only beneficial for the students, but also for the industry partners. The event allowed us to inform them of our opportunities and also about who we are as a company."

Koewler added that the exposure Land 'O Lakes received from the visit will hopefully put the company in the front of students' minds when they are looking for internships as sophomores and juniors and then for full-time positions as seniors. "Overall, the Welcome Week site visit program has been a very fun experience for us," he said. "In working with Carlson we have now had site visits for students ranging from the freshmen during Welcome Week to graduate students studying for their MBAs. Each visit is unique and allows us as a company to show what we have to offer to University of Minnesota students."

Prior to embarking on the site visits, students heard from Irene Fernando, '07 BSB, the founder of the Minneapolis non-profit Students Today, Leaders Forever. She shared her life experiences with the students and encouraged them to think carefully about their future plans and goals.