New Faces: Meet High Alpha’s Summer Interns

This summer, we have the pleasure of hosting 20 interns across High Alpha and our portfolio companies. Many of our interns were displaced from previous summer internships due to the effects of COVID-19 on business. We partnered with TechPoint to provide learning opportunities to students who were previously placed with companies in the Xtern program. Meet each of the interns below:

Brandi Alcox

Portfolio Company: Relay
College: Purdue University
Major: Computer and Information Technology
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? Getting to help possibly add a new function to the Relay app — or be a part of the decision on possible functions that could be added in the future.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to read, catch up on TV, or hang out with friends and family.
What is your dream job? Honestly, getting paid to travel!

Grant Bowman

Portfolio Company: Canopy
College: Purdue University
Major: Computer Science/Mathematics
What are you working on at Canopy? I am using natural language generation to present data to clients in a dynamic and readable way.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to game.
What is your dream job? My dream job is to create video games or do something with a lot of mathematics.

Abbi Bressoud

Portfolio Company: Relay
College: Purdue University
Major: Multidisciplinary Engineering
What are you working on at Relay? I will be using data analysis of previous incidents to find a way to better structure how the system categorizes and organizes the data.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to grab coffee with friends and read.
What is your dream job? Research and design, or product management.

Oliver Davis

Portfolio Company: Casted
College: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Major: Finance/Economics
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I am excited to be optimizing and streamlining the Drift Bot interface on the Casted’s website.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to play pickup basketball.
What is your dream job? Ultimately, I would love to become the CFO of a startup company I believe in.

Ruchal Desai

Portfolio Company: Relay
College: Indiana University
Major: Marketing and Business Analytics
What are you working on at Relay? I will be launching a 3-week campaign that focuses on multiple social media platforms to find new agency leads and appeal to citizens. I am excited to make a contribution to the start-up company.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to listen to true crime podcasts.
What is your dream job? I would eventually want to work as a product developer for a makeup brand company.

Myles DuBose

Portfolio Company: Docket
College: Wabash College
Major: Rhetoric and Business
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? Writing blogs and improving my writing overall as well as helping Docket create more content for their website.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to play sports and listen to music on long car rides.
What is your dream job? I want to have my own landscaping business.

Rodrigo Gerbasi

Portfolio Company: Casted
College: Purdue University
Major: Computer Science
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I’m very excited and grateful for the opportunity to work on any project during these times — so I’m looking forward to everything!
When I’m not working or at school, I like to practice some instruments, practice stunting, or enjoy time with friends.
What is your dream job? Something that allows me to practice multiple skills and disciplines.

Emily Hales

Portfolio Company: Pattern89
College: Franklin College
Major: Graphic Design
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I am most excited to help curate Pattern89’s social media presence with strong graphics and visuals!
When I’m not working or at school, I like to hike in Brown County with my dog.
What is your dream job? My dream job is to be the designer behind the cool packaging you see walking down the aisles at Target.

Jenna Hall

Portfolio Company: Canopy
College: Purdue University
Major: Marketing
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? Getting to create social media content and blog posts for Canopy.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to cook.
What is your dream job? My dream job is to be a marketing consultant.

Ashley Harter

Portfolio Company: Anvl
College: DePauw University
Major: Psychology
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I am most excited to write an article that incorporates information related to my field of study as well as a new field that I am learning about during my internship.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to exercise (especially swimming) and try new recipes!
What is your dream job? I hope to be put in a social services profession that specifically aims at helping children. I’d also like to work on a nonprofit business that works toward ending the mental health crisis.

Alex Kuntz

Portfolio Company: High Alpha
College: Purdue University
Major: Management and Marketing
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I’m really excited to do some demand gen work for High Alpha’s newest portfolio companies.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to watch sports.
What is your dream job? I’d like to hold a leadership position in a startup.

Linnea Lindstrom

Portfolio Company: Pattern89
College: Purdue University
Major: Computer Science
What are you working on at Pattern89? I’m setting up a CI pipeline that will automatically do some tasks to make the development process more convenient.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to play video games.
What is your dream job? My dream job is to be a software engineer.

Sam Nakis

Portfolio Company: High Alpha Innovation
College: Butler University
Major: Computer Science and Software Engineering, with a minor in Web Design and Development
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? Helping to design the High Alpha Innovation website!
When I’m not working or at school, I like to work on arts and crafts-related stuff and hang out with friends.
What is your dream job? I’m not 100% sure, still looking to figure it out! I’ve realized I really love working on design projects so far.

Meghan Reddy

Portfolio Company: Docket
College: Indiana University
Major: Finance and Business Analytics
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I’m working with our Director of Product on a longer-term project to add a new feature to Docket. Time permitting, I would love to interact with the first prototype of the feature and see it come to fruition before the end of my internship!
When I’m not working or at school, I like to dance.
What is your dream job? I’m still exploring what my dream job might be but I will be interning in NYC doing Investment Banking next summer which is very different from my Product Management role this summer. I’ve really enjoyed my role thus far and have learned so much already but I am also super excited for next summer. I’ve always been interested in the intersection of finance and technology, so ultimately I think a job that combines both fields would be my ideal job!

Isaiah Ritter

Portfolio Company: Casted
College: University of Notre Dame
Major: Computer Science
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? Being able to write tests for Casted’s frameworks to help streamline future development.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to spend time with my family and friends, go disc golfing and work on tech equipment.
What is your dream job? I’d like to work in software development for a major tech company such as Apple, Google, Tesla, or Amazon.

Daniel Stein

Portfolio Company: High Alpha
College: University of Michigan
Major: Business and Psychology
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I’m excited about taking some competitive deep dives.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to play soccer.
What is your dream job? Honestly… professional soccer player.

Mia Switzer

Portfolio Company: High Alpha Innovation
College: Purdue University
Major: Public Relations & Strategic Communication
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I’m most excited about helping High Alpha Innovation build their social media and marketing from the ground up.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to work out and longboard.
What is your dream job? My dream job is working in mental health, either dealing with campaigns for mental health awareness, creating marketing/advertising/social media for mental health advocating businesses, or doing research on how to better communicate about mental health with family, friends, and others.

Mercedes Thompson

Portfolio Company: Docket
College: Ball State University
Major: Computer Science and Animation
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? Just getting my hands dirty with real world projects.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to draw, watch TV, and play video games and DnD.
What is your dream job? My dream job is to work in video game development.

Rebecca Townsend

Portfolio Company: High Alpha
College: Indiana University
Major: Economic Consulting
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? Researching entrepreneurial ideas for the Business Design team that have the potential to spark excitement!
When I’m not working or at school, I like to hang out with friends, drink lots of coffee, and practice yoga.
What is your dream job? If I could be anything in the world, I think it would be awesome to be a Supreme Court Justice. If that doesn’t come to fruition, I’ll be happy in a career surrounded by motivating and inspiring people!

Kaylynn Ward

Portfolio Company: Casted
College: Indiana State University
Major: Communications with a concentration in public relations and minor in marketing
What are you looking forward to the most about your internship? I am most excited to be working on a podcast series with a fellow Xtern that will focus on our personal experiences with the Xtern program and will feature different perspectives of other Xtern experiences as well.
When I’m not working or at school, I like to find new hobbies, which can range from reading a new book series all the way to teaching myself a new skill.
What is your dream job? I think I still am figuring out what my dream job exactly is, but at the moment, I just would like to find a career in a field where I’m passionate about the work that I’m doing.

Originally published at https://highalpha.com on June 29, 2020.