BALL HORTICULTURAL COMPANY 2014 SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM For well over two decades, Ball Horticultural Company has offered a wide variety of internships to students majoring in Horticulture, Plant Science, Agribusiness, and related fields. Each year, our internship projects are linked to specific business initiatives, which encompass a range of horticulture disciplines including advanced research, breeding and genetics, marketing, business operations, production, and trialing. All internships require a minimum of Junior- level standing at a regionally accredited, four- year university or college. Historically, Ball interns arrive with significant academic and/or related extracurricular accomplishments, although consideration is given to those students demonstrating exceptional promise. When applying for these internship projects, students should consider the following: All internships are offered during the summer months for a period of 10-12 weeks. Starting and ending dates are relatively flexible, depending upon the schedule of the student and the needs of the department; we prefer interns start no later than the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Unless otherwise noted, internships are located in West Chicago, Illinois, which is a suburb approximately 35 miles west of Chicago. Rate of pay is $11.00 per hour. Students typically work 40 hours/week, although some internships require overtime during critical periods. We provide fully furnished and appointed apartments in a nearby complex and absorb the majority of the rental costs. The student portion of housing costs generally run about $200.00 per month; food, telephone and transportation costs are not included. Students are required to have their own transportation since housing is not within walking distance from work locations and public transportation is not available. A major goal of the program is to expose students to multiple aspects of our business operations; presentations and tours of departments throughout the corporation are provided on a regular basis during the summer. Similarly, interns are expected to participate in relevant company and industry events including the OFA Short Course and Ball Customer Day. All internships culminate in early August with a final presentation made to members of Ball s Executive and Senior Management Teams. The application deadline is February 28, 2014. Intern selections will be determined by mid- March 2014. All applicants will be notified of our decisions. Students interested in pursuing one of these internships should forward a cover letter and resume to: Ball Horticultural Company Attn: Mike Williams 622 Town Road West Chicago, IL 60185 630-231- 3600, ext. 3308 Fax: 630-231- 3592 E- mail: mwilliams@ballhort.com Website: www.ballhort.com
DARWIN PERENNIALS INTERNSHIP Supervised by: Karl Batschke This individual will be an integral part of our product development team and included in our product selection process in June and July, gaining valuable insight into the perennial market in North America and worldwide. This internship is also a hands- on experience in the Darwin Perennial Gardens. This internship consists of projects primarily focused on the perennial initiatives of the company. Areas of activity will include the following: Maintain and collect data from the perennial gardens. In addition to collecting flowering and overwintering data this work also involves pruning, dead- heading and keeping perennial gardens in optimal shape. This also involves updating and maintaining the planting and bed location database. Maintaining and collecting data from confidential perennial trials (potential products for future introduction). This involves collecting key data on a weekly basis, tracking this on an Excel spreadsheet, taking appropriate photography of trials as well as general trial maintenance such as dead- heading, pruning and assisting with general maintenance. Information gained from this trial is used during the product selection meetings with the sales, marketing and management group of Darwin. Conduct rooting trials of new introductions and problem varieties. Collect data on best practices in rooting and growing out liners; document best practices with photographic and numeric data. Assist with Perennial Day event. Prepare plant material for trade shows, including OFA Short Course. Some local travel may be required. Junior or senior level student majoring in horticulture, landscape design and maintenance or related field. This internship requires intermediate- level proficiency with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Selected intern must be self- directed, have the ability to organize and prioritize their work, as well as work a flexible schedule during peak planting periods and in advance of special events. Similarly, this hands- on internship requires that the student is able to work under a variety of environmental conditions, including heat, humidity and rain for prolonged periods of time, as well as lift 50+ pounds and perform physical labor. Interest in perennials is a strong plus.
VEGETATIVE YOUNG PLANT PROPAGATION INTERNSHIP Supervised by: Will Healy, Kelly Nicholas Losses in propagation are due to either leaf breakdown or delayed rooting. Both of these scenarios result in uneven growth for rooting stations and finished growers. The shrink due to these losses is significant and the contributing causes are still unclear. Determining ways to minimize cutting breakdown or reverse the decline need to be developed. Preliminary trials from last summer provided us several potential paths to research as part of this internship. The intern will work with the Ball FloraPlant team to investigate the cause of cutting breakdown in several species and document how this breakdown is occurring. As part of the internship the student will assist with the management of the BFP summer field trials. This will include greenhouse and field trial experiences. A second part of the study will involve working with Ball vegetative production farms and network rooting stations to develop ways to incorporate findings into best practices in vegetative cuttings. Some local travel may be required. Junior or senior level student majoring in horticulture with an emphasis on greenhouse production is ideal. This internship requires intermediate- level proficiency with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Selected intern must be self- directed, have the ability to organize and prioritize their work, as well as work a flexible schedule during peak periods. Similarly, this hands- on internship requires that the student is able to work under a variety of environmental conditions, including heat and humidity for prolonged periods of time, as well as lift 50+ pounds and perform physical labor.
LANDSCAPE INTERNSHIP Supervised by: Jeff Gibson This internship will give the student the opportunity to work in our strategic initiative, Ball Landscape, which serves to connect with the N. American landscape market. At Ball Landscape, we assemble and market perennial, shrub and annual color products to landscapers and supply our grower customers who service the landscape trade with products. The internship will focus on the following: 1. Assist in assembling and conducting a biennial survey of Ball grower customers who sell into the landscape market and landscape contractors. Project includes distributing electronic survey; collecting and compiling quantitative and qualitative results; and assist in interpreting results including comparison to prior surveys. 2. Assist in assembling and conducting a new survey of the shrub and perennial nursery market to assess potential for Ball Ornamentals and Darwin Perennials products. Similar involvement to above survey work. 3. Help conduct field trials of landscape soils and basic treatments to ascertain best practices for annuals, shrubs and perennials. 4. Participate in the Ball Customer and Landscape Day event, including assisting with the set- up for the event and hosting guests on the day of the event. 5. Work on related assignments to support Ball Landscape initiatives. Junior or senior level student majoring in horticulture, agriculture, agribusiness or related plant science discipline. Intermediate- level proficiency with MS Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. The selected intern must be self- directed, able to work independently, as well as part of a team, and possess exceptional attention to detail.
SEED DISTRIBUTION INTERNSHIP Supervised by: Dave Hanebuth The intern will work to enhance work flow efficiencies and reduce production costs by refining work processes in three areas of the seed processing center. This will be accomplished by working directly with department supervisors and employees to ensure knowledge transfer and to take advantage of local expertise. The intern will develop revisions to work flow and physical arrangement of the work area, and in how systems- based data is utilized to support the new work flows. Expected outcomes from this include establishing baseline performance, implementing process changes, developing new performance expectations, documenting work processes with flow charts, and eliminating steps that do not add value. This project will be highly visible within the department and requires an interpersonal acumen as well as someone who can work effectively across department teams. Junior or senior level student majoring in horticulture, agriculture, agribusiness or other related field. This position requires a person who has good communication skills and ability to work well in a large group. Must have strong computer skills, specifically a comfort working in Microsoft environment and analyzing data. In addition, individual should be a self- starter, have strong organizational skills and good writing/documentation skills. Previous leadership experience will be helpful.
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS INTERNSHIP Supervised by: Tim Duffin The Marketing Communications department plans to build a larger library of plant videos for our upgraded websites and the future tablet/mobile app project. Video focus would be on: New Introductions and Product Priorities Exclusives to consumer plant brands Top- Selling products Tools and Resources Video files will be produced in a slideshow format from a mix of still photography, screen captions, live footage, and possible on- screen commentary. Size will range from 15 seconds to 1 minute. These will be brief commercials of plant features and benefits. The Intern will collaborate with product management and MarCom teams to 1) confirm a plant list; 2) secure existing photos or arrange for new photography; 3) interview key personnel for on- camera interview or insight; 4) film, create, render and post videos to websites and social media. The software needed to create the videos will be Mac- based: iphoto and/or imovie. Equipment may or may not include existing digital cameras, tablets, or smartphones. In addition to the video production project, we may ask the intern to create a trends report on the existing video market, and how an improved Ball video library can boost sales and education. Junior or senior level student majoring in horticulture, agribusiness or related field with an emphasis and/or strong personal interest in marketing and product promotion. He or she will need a good working knowledge and comfortableness around creating and posting video content. Knowledge of social media platforms (i.e. YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter) is a strong plus. This position requires a person who has good communication and computer skills. In addition, individual should be a self- starter and have strong organizational skills.
SEEDLING DEVELOPMENT INTERNSHIP Supervised by: Robert Conrad This student will work in our Premier Seed Lab on a variety of projects involving evaluations of seedling development. Presently we are testing multiple methods of achieving optimum germination and seedling development in several crops. The intern will be directly involved in assisting with production trials, data collection and interpretation, and evaluation of technologies employed in the methods being developed. Examples of the activities involved in these projects will include setting up growing facilities and grow- out standards for each crop. Participating in the evaluations of various controls such as optimum light spacing, intensity and watering requirements per crop will also be performed. Some local travel may be required. Junior or senior level student majoring in horticulture with an emphasis on greenhouse production is ideal. This internship requires intermediate- level proficiency with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Selected intern must be self- directed, have the ability to organize and prioritize their work, as well as work a flexible schedule during peak periods.