CU Live

Hey everybody! Back again, and it’s already August! The second half of the summer has been much busier, and has gone a lot quicker too. It is starting to sink in that I only have two more weeks here on campus. Between work and fun, there are too many things left to do!

As for work, I am wrapping up my Sandals presentation and India project. Next week I will give my final presentation and hand in a report containing all the work I’ve done. I am glad to have the opportunity to present all of my work, but I am naturally nervous about giving the best presentation possible, and getting it all done on time. During my time here, I have realized how much the business world relies on PowerPoint and Excel. Proficiency in these two programs will get you a long way. Of course the slide decks and spreadsheets here are extremely well made, but knowledge of how to use the programs is more essential than anything else.

The campus has been a little bit more relaxed the last few weeks. There are still events going on, but many people are taking their vacations right now. Many employees seem to be down at Huntington Beach for the US Open of Surf, or in NYC for the World Basketball Festival. Both of these huge events are exclusively Nike events. The US Open of Surfing showcases Nike’s subsidiaries- Hurley, Converse and Nike 6.0. The World Basketball Festival focuses on -Converse, Nike Basketball, and the Jordan brand.

On campus, we have had one visitor who created a little excitement last week. LeBron James was hanging out on campus for 3 or 4 days last week. On the way to one of my meetings I looked up from texting as I almost ran straight in to him! He smiled and I fumbled my words with a quick apology. I realized afterword that only at Nike could you be walking to a routine meeting in the afternoon and run into the most famous athlete in the country right now!

In other adventures, I helped with a big running event in downtown Portland last Thursday. The event was put on by a Pacer, which is a really cool job where you work with Running Specialty Stores within a region. One of the best parts of the job is putting on amazing Nike sponsored events. On Thursday, Nike teamed up with FitRight (a running specialty store in Portland) to do an Adventure Run. People had one hour to copy down a map of “pit stops” and run to as many as possible to pick up raffle tickets. At the end there was a big party and they gave away a lot of sweet Nike gear. My job was to help with the product tests. People could try out a few of Nike’s new running shoes for the run, as well as the new Nike+ gear. It went really well, and I hopefully I’ll be heading to the Chicago Marathon in October to do the same type of job.

With so much going on it’s been hard to get out and travel, but this weekend many of the interns are going to head to Crater Lake to enjoy our last weekend here! Can’t believe how fast it’s gone, and how much fun I’ve had learning about Nike. The next time I write will probably be after it’s all over :( Hopefully I’ll have some great stories to tell though!!!

Hey! I can’t believe it’s almost August!!! This summer has been flying by. I am already halfway done with my time here at Nike.

The middle of July has been very busy on campus. Last week the Manchester City soccer team was here practicing on Ronaldo field. It was so much fun to watch these amazing players practice. None of the World Cup guys were there, but the talent level was still incredible. There was also a 7 On Tournament showcasing the top high school football players in the country. This was a cool event that was led by Tim Tebow here on campus!

Besides all of the fun stuff, I have been hard at work too. Last week we had global meetings to introduce products for fall 2011. Every category had some really sweet new products that everyone’s excited about. I have really enjoyed my time here so far, and would love to work here after I graduate. About half of my time is spent working on my projects/ presentations and the other half is networking and meeting with people with very different jobs and backgrounds.

The key to this place is relationships, as I’ve said before. You never know what kind of opportunities will come along so it’s important to meet with as many people as possible to understand what they do and how they got there. One of the best meetings I’ve had was with Jayme Martin.

Jayme is a Creighton alum and currently the VP of Global Running here at Nike. This is a new position that he just moved into. His success at the company is the main reason that Creighton students have a chance at Interning each summer. Jayme is a really cool guy and a great representation of the kind of leader Creighton should produce. Between Jayme and my manager Abby (a former Creighton intern here), Creighton alums have been successful at Nike.

Outside of work, I have gotten to explore the Pacific Northwest a little bit more. Some of the interns took a trip to Seattle and we saw a great game between the Mariners and Yankees (Mariners won with a grand slam!). Now I have been West to the coast, South to Eugene, and North to Seattle. The next stop is heading to Mt. Hood to do some white water rafting!

I can’t believe how fast time is going, but with about 5 weeks left I’m sure there is still a lot left to be done!!!

Are you ready for some football?

Tonight starts summer camp at Millard South, so tonight for us, as well as many other schools, we are gearing up for the start of the 2010 football season!  Unbelievable if you ask me, just seems like yesterday we were walking off the field in Lincoln with a trophy, and now we are walking back on the field to start it all over again. 

And just think, in a year from now, I will be going down to Lincoln to watch my Hawkeyes roll into town (still hasn't hit me that Nebraska is in the Big Ten).  For a lot of seniors, this means the school year is already getting hectic - I have already seen marching band in practice at Buell field!  Last week we also had the Rimmingotn Football camp and got to work with a few former NFL guys - I just can't believe the school year is about to start.

So what are you to do about it?  Start working on applications before things get too hectic.  Ours is live right now, start here http://admissions.creighton.edu/MyApplication/ApplyNow/tabid/307/Default.aspx

Looking forward to seeing you on campus - and reviewing your credentials.

Go Jays!

Happy belated 4^th of July! This week’s blog is a little later because of the holiday. I have had a great week at Nike. It was made extra special with a visit from my dad, who was here to visit!

I have really started to dig into my summer projects over the last few days. My job is basically to propose a plan for Nike sandals in South America. There are a lot of options to look at when deciding how to produce sandals (imported, component, local). There are also many different costs to consider and calculate to determine which method is best.

I am currently learning a lot about the various sandals Nike makes, and how they are made. It is interesting because many of the people I work with are the native merchants who live in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. If nothing else, I am definitely experiencing another culture here in the Emerging Markets. I will have another project or two to start here in the next few weeks as well. One of the most exciting experiences is when I get to apply something I learned in class to Nike’s sandal strategy. I always felt like I never was able to use the things I learned in school, other than on a final exam.

There is a lot of work to be done, but we find time to have fun here too. This weekend I was able to go to the Prefontaine Classic track meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Being a runner, Hayward Field is one of the most revered, historic tracks in the world. It was an amazing meet with 13 records being broken. We saw 20 sub 4 minute miles! Another highlight was seeing the first two men to ever run the 5,000 in less than 13 minutes on American soil. I also took a trip with my dad to Multnomah Falls, which is the 2^nd highest waterfall in the US (Yosemite is higher).

I am amazed by all there is to do in Oregon. I am never more than a couple hours from a mountain, the coast, or Seattle. It is a very adventurous state, and the summer here is so much fun. With the world cup games wrapping up, we are all cheering for the Netherlands (the final remaining Nike team) to win it all! Unfortunately I bought a Brazil jersey the day before they lost, but at least I’m supporting South America, which is the region I work in!

I am given a lot of free time here to meet with people to hear stories and get advice. It seems like I meet someone from a different area everyday.

It looks like the weather here is getting a lot warmer now! Portland stays in the mid 70’s for the most part, and there is not much rain in the summer. The biggest difference from the Midwest is NO HUMIDITY!!! The days go by really fast here! There is so much going on and I am always on the go! I hope I can get everything in before I leave. But it’s soon to be thinking about the school year yet!

Hello Again! I have just finished my first full week as an intern here at Nike. I came at one of the busiest (but most fun) times for my department.

This past week I have been sitting in on some amazing meetings. There were merchants from all of the Latin markets (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and the Partners) here to look over the summer ’11 product line. I met some really cool people and was able to just sit and observe all the “behind the scenes” work that keeps the Nike engine moving.

The meetings resembled a UN conference, but with a much more interesting subject! The merchants from the World Headquarters (WHQ) walk the countries through all of the products for the season and then they begin to select what their region is going to take. Now each merchant is working for what will sell best in their country. This means that the WHQ merchant has to work to get all the merchants to agree in order to have the most efficient product line. The whole process was amazing to watch.

One thing that was really interesting was how the South Americans were so unique from other geographies. They are so passionate even when they talk about something like footwear! I also learned that handshakes are weird… everyone hugs and kisses! One of my favorite moments of the week was watching the Argentina soccer game with everyone. We take about a 2 hour lunch break everyday, because World Cup Futbol comes first in our department! For the Argentina game, everyone had on jersey’s and were glued to the TV. When they scored their first goal people were screaming, hugging, and running around like crazy! They even started a mosh pit… seriously!

On Thursday I sat in on a meeting that was focusing on refining the entire merchandising process for Emerging Markets at Nike. It’s really cool to think that I observed the beginning of what will eventually impact hundreds of Nike employees and millions of consumers. I am having a great time here. I’m looking forward to the weekend. They take care of interns really well here, and we have many amazing activities planned for Portland this weekend! Have a great