NYCM Stories: Cultivating our 2024 Interns

Every summer, NYCM
Insurance’s internship program welcomes students into divisions across the
company, focusing on providing them with opportunities to learn and grow as
professionals. This year, 36 interns joined Team NYCM, becoming immersed in our
culture while gaining first-hand experience on what it’s like to work within
our four walls.

The experience that our
interns receive while working alongside our employees doesn’t stop at the
day-to-day tasks within their division. We also offer opportunities to interact
with other teams, lead projects, volunteer, and more.

“Our internship provides
valuable real-world experiences, allowing them to learn and work closely with
the teams they are a part of, as well as getting to be a part of a great
company culture and community,” said NYCM’s Recruitment Team. “We value
the fresh perspective they bring to the organization and love seeing them
interacting and being a part of their teams. We create a collaborative and
creative environment they will thrive in, in hopes of them returning to us for
full-time opportunities.”

This summer, one of the
intern volunteer projects was to set up for the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball
tournament in Norwich, NY. “Setting up hoops was a cool opportunity to not only
support a community event, but also to connect with other interns at NYCM and
work together as a team,” said Maeve Robinson, Public Relations intern within
our Brand Management team.

Another project that
interns worked on was hosting a trivia day for each of our branch offices.
Employees were encouraged to sign up with a team to find out if they were
“smarter than a 5th grader” at the intern-led event.

Our People Development
team wanted to ensure that our interns knew just how much they are appreciated,
so they hosted various events for them throughout the summer as well. One of
the most popular events according to the interns was a Pickleball tournament followed
by lunch.

Networking and learning
about what other teams do is another important part of NYCM’s internship
program. A popular intern and employee event invites each department to set up
a booth with representatives to interact with all the interns, explaining what
their team is responsible for.

“We had a great group of
interns this year and had fun celebrating them on Intern Day to show
appreciation for all they do! This year we invited all the divisions to mingle,
allowing the interns to learn more about each of them and to give the interns
the opportunity to explore how other divisions in the company could fit into
their career interests. A fun day for all that attended, including a tiki bar
provided by our Human Resources Division,” said Talent Acquisition Business
Unit Manager, Crystal Curpier.

Continue reading to learn
more about what some of our 2024 interns had to say about their
experience.

Maeve Robinson

Maeve, an intern on Brand
Management’s Public Relations team, said that her favorite part about her
internship was the events she was able to plan and participate in. “I really
enjoyed being able to interact with others and events are the perfect way to do
that.” One thing that Maeve has taken away from her internship is how to manage
her time better and not to be hesitant to ask questions about the processes her
team uses to get tasks done. She learned to really like internal project
management tools because they helped her stay organized. Maeve plans to attend
Florida Gulf Coast University majoring in Hospitality and Resort
Management.

Jaci Wright

2024 marked Jaci’s second
internship here at NYCM, and this summer she had the pleasure of working in our
People Development division. “My favorite part of being part of the People
Development team was planning employee events.” During her internship, Jaci
taught Excel classes, planned an intern day, helped host bingo for employees,
and planned trivia day. Jaci learned about NYCM’s internship program from her
older sister who was an intern in past years. Throughout this summer, Jaci has
built important skills such as multitasking, event planning, and time
management. These skills will help her in the fall as she embarks on her
journey as a teacher.

Anna Rinaldo

Anna spent her internship
with NYCM’s Casualty Claims team. Her favorite part about her summer internship
was the relationship she built with her team. “I loved that the team was always
willing to help me with any questions that I had.” Anna is pursuing a career in
the medical field and decided it would be beneficial to learn about the
relationship liability insurance has with her chosen path. During her research
for possible internship opportunities, Anna stumbled upon NYCM and had heard
from previous interns that it is a great place to work, so she applied.
Something that Anna took away from her internship is to have a well detailed
process when creating documents like a handbook. “While learning my role,
having a specific process of doing tasks allowed me to work independently, but
also knowing the team was nearby to support me when needed.” Anna said that
seeing the medical side of insurance opened her eyes to a new perspective and
now she knows what things she can do as a physical therapist to make the claims
process easier for claims representatives. After her internship, Anna has a newfound
appreciation for insurance. In May of 2025, Anna will be receiving her
Doctorate in Physical Therapy.

Tyler Barth

Tyler spent his summer on
the Brand Management team’s Creative Team. “My favorite part of this internship
was the photo coverage that I was able to help with at events.” Doing this
allowed Tyler to get more hands-on experience and he enjoyed seeing employees
interacting with one another outside of the office. Something that Tyler
focused on improving during his internship was his time management skills and credits
internal tools in helping to work on those skills in an efficient and effective
way. Tyler will be a sophomore at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in the fall, where
he is majoring in Communication and Media Design.