Note from the blog manager: The Olympics came to Portland, Oregon—Intern Olympics that is. Summer interns from Intel and Nike* squared off in a series of activities aimed at creating some friendly competition, and fun, between the two groups in the first cross company sport challenge. Joseph, an Electrical and Computer Engineering Master’s student from Georgia Tech, by way of University of Florida, interned with the Americas Marketing Group this summer and shares his experience with the Olympics below.
“Almost doesn’t count.” This often overused phrase described the Intel vs. Nike Intern Olympics exactly. We almost won dodgeball, we almost didn’t get shut out in kickball, we almost left without our pride and dignity after the volleyball games—until the Nike recruiter gave us all passes to the Nike employee store. The pride and dignity quickly returned, along with a few pairs of Jordans in our closets. (We did win the virtual games portion of the Olympics, but given that the majority of Intel interns probably average more hours of Call of Duty* per week than hours per year on any athletic field, victory on the Wii* was inevitable.)
This brings us to another often overused phrase, “Winning isn’t everything.” Although losing does suck, this series of events gave me a chance to meet interns at Intel and Nike who I would not have probably met otherwise. It also allowed us to have fun! All interns (from HR to Finance, to Engineering) came together with one common goal: not to embarrass ourselves in front of the cute Nike interns! (Ok…maybe that wasn’t the common goal…perhaps just one of mine? :-)) It also gave me a chance to show off how my supreme wrench-dodging abilities helped on the dodgeball court. (It didn’t lead us to a victory, but I figured I’d mention it anyways.)
Overall, I’d say the idea to have an Intern Olympics was pretty awesome! Unfortunately this will be my last internship, but hopefully Tavish will let me sneak on the team next summer. I do recommend including an NFL combine-style addition to the intern interviews for next year (40 yard dash, vertical jump, throwing/catching skills, etc). That would definitely help us prepare for the Olympics next summer. Oh yeah and Go Gators!
“Almost doesn’t count.” This often overused phrase described the Intel vs. Nike Intern Olympics exactly. We almost won dodgeball, we almost didn’t get shut out in kickball, we almost left without our pride and dignity after the volleyball games—until the Nike recruiter gave us all passes to the Nike employee store. The pride and dignity quickly returned, along with a few pairs of Jordans in our closets. (We did win the virtual games portion of the Olympics, but given that the majority of Intel interns probably average more hours of Call of Duty* per week than hours per year on any athletic field, victory on the Wii* was inevitable.)
This brings us to another often overused phrase, “Winning isn’t everything.” Although losing does suck, this series of events gave me a chance to meet interns at Intel and Nike who I would not have probably met otherwise. It also allowed us to have fun! All interns (from HR to Finance, to Engineering) came together with one common goal: not to embarrass ourselves in front of the cute Nike interns! (Ok…maybe that wasn’t the common goal…perhaps just one of mine? :-)) It also gave me a chance to show off how my supreme wrench-dodging abilities helped on the dodgeball court. (It didn’t lead us to a victory, but I figured I’d mention it anyways.)
Overall, I’d say the idea to have an Intern Olympics was pretty awesome! Unfortunately this will be my last internship, but hopefully Tavish will let me sneak on the team next summer. I do recommend including an NFL combine-style addition to the intern interviews for next year (40 yard dash, vertical jump, throwing/catching skills, etc). That would definitely help us prepare for the Olympics next summer. Oh yeah and Go Gators!
