Each summer an increasing number of students from the College of Business and the School of Information Technology at Illinois State University serve as interns at Discover Financial Services. Many of these and other students become full-time employees of Discover upon graduation.

In an effort to connect Redbird interns and full-time employees, Matt Johanson ’89, vice President of Operations for Discover Network, worked with University Advancement to invite them all to a reception at Discover headquarters in Northbrook.

More than 50 people attended the inaugural event at the end of July, just before the interns completed work on their projects. Many employees were pleasantly surprised when they realized their colleagues were fellow alumni. Some began to make plans to attend Homecoming together.interns standing

Crystal Fruit, project manager for Discover’s campus recruiting was instrumental in planning the event. She notes that Discover is pleased with the caliber of employee they are able to recruit from Illinois State, and she looks forward to strengthening the relationship.

Johanson and Fruit will continue to work with Alumni Relations to discover Redbirds at Discover and invite them to connect with each other and with the University.

More photos from the event can be viewed on Flickr.