Andre DeSouza '10

Frontier Natural Foods Coop, Norway, IA

In November of 2008, Andre DeSouza interned at Frontier Natural Foods Coop in Norway, Iowa.  DeSouza was a marketing intern.  Frontier Natural Foods Coop produces products in three lines: Frontier Natural Foods, Aura Cacia, and Simply Organic.  Andre's tasks were varied and he was able to participate in many meetings to help get Frontier's products from taste testing to consumer's pantries.  He performed market analysis, created website lead-ins, and attended quality assurance meetings.

Says DeSouza, "Cornell College prepared me for my internship by focusing on one aspect of the huge marketing field, analysis. During my many classes at Cornell I was given the opportunity to use Microsoft Excel and I learned how to run data analysis with it. I was taught which questions to ask and how to observe trends. During my internship at Frontier I had many opportunities to use these skills. Cornell spends a lot of time making sure that students understand that you have to look at the data and learn how to interpret it correctly."

"Cornell also helped prepare me by encouraging me to pursue this internship. Having that support behind me gave me the confidence to do my best and to not be afraid of messing up. It was kind of scary going from the classroom environment to the actual business environment because my decisions in class affect only myself, while my decisions at Frontier could impact the whole company. My experience and training at Cornell gave me the confidence to trust my feelings and to interpret the data correctly. This allowed me to be a much more efficient as an intern for Frontier."

Click here to read Andre's internship blog.