We're opening the doors to our industry with our Open Doors Internship!
The Open Doors Internship invites students to explore their interests in greater depth and gain insight into the development, architecture and construction efforts required to create impactful structures and spaces across the country. Applications are now open for the 2024 summer internships. Qualified applicants must have plans to or currently be attending a two-year technical school or be in the first two years of a four-year program. We strongly encourage students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the industry to apply, but the Internship is open to all students and aims to throw open the doors of our industry to those who haven't been historically included.
“This is a unique opportunity," said Joel Prater, Director of Visualization & Technology, who oversees the Internship. “Most internships focus on a single role or career path. The Open Doors Internship provides insight into multiple careers in the commercial real estate realm. And we received great feedback from the schools we presented to last year who told us this was an awesome opportunity; unlike any internship they'd ever seen before."
We began opening doors in 2023 with three Interns from a variety of backgrounds.
“The highlight from the first year was our interns' ability to quickly learn some fairly complex skills and apply them to a real-world site," said Theo C. Grothe, AIA, NCARB, Senior Designer of Architecture, who oversaw the architecture rotation of the internship. “We had them do zoning research and site plan layouts, and it was amazing to see how fast they picked up on the skills needed to do the job. They engaged quickly, asked the right questions, made informed decisions and ultimately came up with unique and valid solutions to some complex issues."
The Open Doors Internship is a big investment in growing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our industry. Interns receive hourly pay and the possibility of housing and transportation stipends. And of course, the hours of face-to-face time with our team of multi-disciplinary, in-house experts. We're proud to continue this investment to advance DEI in the industry.
“Interns get the opportunity to work and learn in an office environment," Theo said. “For Opus, it gives us a chance to give back to our community in a unique way. We introduced underrepresented youth to the industry and taught them many skills that they may have not been exposed to otherwise. That benefits the industry as a whole, while the unique points of view, voices and a way of thinking benefit us all."
“Our goal is that our interns gain insight. They are in the thick of making choices that will influence their future careers, and in fact, all three interns last year said their experience with Opus positively changed the course of their educational journey" Joel said. “We are hoping that the Open Doors Internship experience provides a broader lens for the participants to view their future through. Opus benefits from the positive energy and perspective the Interns bring with them. Hopefully over time the industry will benefit from this same energy and perspective."
Applications for this summer's internships are open until March 15. Application and minimum requirements can be found here.
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Every voice brings unique perspective and value and collectively can make our world and workplaces better. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) serve to amplify everything we do; a culture and environment that actively values DEI makes us stronger, more creative, more competitive, sustainable, and just plain better. Learn more about our DEI work.
The Open Doors Internship invites students to explore their interests in greater depth and gain insight into the development, architecture and construction efforts required to create impactful structures and spaces across the country. Applications are now open for the 2024 summer internships. Qualified applicants must have plans to or currently be attending a two-year technical school or be in the first two years of a four-year program. We strongly encourage students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the industry to apply, but the Internship is open to all students and aims to throw open the doors of our industry to those who haven't been historically included.
“This is a unique opportunity," said Joel Prater, Director of Visualization & Technology, who oversees the Internship. “Most internships focus on a single role or career path. The Open Doors Internship provides insight into multiple careers in the commercial real estate realm. And we received great feedback from the schools we presented to last year who told us this was an awesome opportunity; unlike any internship they'd ever seen before."
We began opening doors in 2023 with three Interns from a variety of backgrounds.
“The highlight from the first year was our interns' ability to quickly learn some fairly complex skills and apply them to a real-world site," said Theo C. Grothe, AIA, NCARB, Senior Designer of Architecture, who oversaw the architecture rotation of the internship. “We had them do zoning research and site plan layouts, and it was amazing to see how fast they picked up on the skills needed to do the job. They engaged quickly, asked the right questions, made informed decisions and ultimately came up with unique and valid solutions to some complex issues."
The Open Doors Internship is a big investment in growing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our industry. Interns receive hourly pay and the possibility of housing and transportation stipends. And of course, the hours of face-to-face time with our team of multi-disciplinary, in-house experts. We're proud to continue this investment to advance DEI in the industry.
“Interns get the opportunity to work and learn in an office environment," Theo said. “For Opus, it gives us a chance to give back to our community in a unique way. We introduced underrepresented youth to the industry and taught them many skills that they may have not been exposed to otherwise. That benefits the industry as a whole, while the unique points of view, voices and a way of thinking benefit us all."
“Our goal is that our interns gain insight. They are in the thick of making choices that will influence their future careers, and in fact, all three interns last year said their experience with Opus positively changed the course of their educational journey" Joel said. “We are hoping that the Open Doors Internship experience provides a broader lens for the participants to view their future through. Opus benefits from the positive energy and perspective the Interns bring with them. Hopefully over time the industry will benefit from this same energy and perspective."
Applications for this summer's internships are open until March 15. Application and minimum requirements can be found here.
***
Every voice brings unique perspective and value and collectively can make our world and workplaces better. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) serve to amplify everything we do; a culture and environment that actively values DEI makes us stronger, more creative, more competitive, sustainable, and just plain better. Learn more about our DEI work.