Natalie Thompson – Internship Experience

Natalie Thompson

My name is Natalie Thompson and I just completed my junior year of Environmental Engineering with a minor in Global Environmental Sustainability at CSU. In the summer of 2015 I was fortunate to have an internship with Antea Group, an Environmental Consulting Firm. I was first introduced to Antea Group at the engineering career fair in the fall where they were recruiting for the summer internship. Antea Group is a global company whose US headquarters is in Minneapolis, MN and they have over 25 offices around the country. I worked in the Loveland, CO office with two other interns from CSU.

This internship was geared towards introducing the interns to the different practices and clients at Antea Group. The first three weeks of my summer were spent training, two of those weeks were in Minneapolis. We got to meet the CEO and vice presidents of the company and learn more about the company’s values. Antea Group also had us go through the 40 Hour OSHA HAZWOPER training, which is a great class to take and put on your resume.

Once all the training was completed, I got to work in the Loveland office and in the field. I spent a couple weeks in Wyoming collecting ground water sampling at remediation sites and several days in Weld County performing air emissions test for oil and gas companies. In my picture, I am holding a camera that detects hydrocarbon gas leaks on oil and gas sites in Weld County. I also got to see a mobile sparge for a remediation project and drilling of new ground monitoring wells. While I was in the office I wrote a storm water plan for the oil and gas industry. I also worked on a project that involved reviewing Environmental, Health and Safety software for our clients.

My favorite part of this experience was the people I worked with. Every time I went into the field I was able to meet new people and hear about their experiences. Antea Group treats their interns very well I felt a part of the team and was given work that was challenging to me. Being able to network and learn more about people’s career path really helped me find my own career path. This is my second internship, and my internships have helped me tremendously to figure out what I like and don’t like for when I graduate from college.