Tri County News

Today's date: September 8, 2010

News
	Top Stories
	Sports
	Business
	Community News
	Police/Courts
	Editorial
	Obituaries
	Announcements
	Columnists
	Ag Issues
	Legals
	Weather
	Search
Classifieds

Top Stories

Cranston interning at Commercial Bank of Minnesota


		July 7, 2010

Carrissa DeRuyter and Jeremy Janssen (back) are pictured above with the new intern at Commercial Bank of Minnesota, Alaina Cranston.	A new face is seen at the Commercial Bank of Minnesota in Heron Lake. Alaina Cranston has been learning about the banking business since June 24.

A new face is seen at the Commercial Bank of Minnesota in Heron Lake. Alaina Cranston has been learning about the banking business since June 24. Cranston, the daughter of Perry and Carol, has taken the opportunity offered to high school students by the bank. With the assistance of the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation, internships are possible for youth in the banking, newspaper and printing industries. Cranston will be a senior this fall at Southwest Star Concept High School. As part of the internship program, Cranston will rotate around the bank, learning as she goes from all of the other employees. Presently, she is shadowing Stacy Hillesheim, the lobby teller. “I like the pace,” Cranston said of working at the bank. She’s assisting with tellering, especially over the lunch hour and doing some proof work. “It’s nice to have another person to help when needed,” said Carrissa DeRuyter who is overseeing Cranston’s internship. Cranston is also assisting with extra projects that need to be done. On the first, she was involved in helping prepare statements for mailing. She’ll be working in the mornings, usually until 1:00 p.m. As the summer progresses, Cranston will “spend time with each officer of the bank, to see their role and how it fits in the overall picture,” added DeRuyter. She’ll be learning about tellering, new accounts, loans, insurance and asset liability management. Cranston is looking forward to learning about the insurance aspect at the bank, working with Gary Schimbeno at Risk Management Partners. “I’ve never done anything like that,” she said. DeRuyter explained that the internship program has a checklist of suggested aspects of banking to learn. “It takes a while to learn all of them,” she added. Cranston will be learning them as they come up during the summer months. In addition to the internship at the bank, Cranston had the opportunity to attend a business camp this week in St. Cloud. Offered through the Minnesota Bankers Association, Cranston’s trip to Minnesota Business Ventures camp is being sponsored by Commercial Bank. The Pohlad Foundation began the internship program in 2004 as way to provide high school students with real work experience as summer interns in the banking industry. By 2006, internships in newspaper and printing companies were added. And in 2009, more companies and nonprofits were recruited so that north Minneapolis youth would receive additional support to get their first job experience. The Pohlad Foundation works with the Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota, the Minnesota Newspaper Association, the Printing Industry of Minnesota, and this year Achieve! Minneapolis and Emerge Ventures have been added. The Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation began in the 1990s, and has grown to allow grant giving and summer employment internships for hundreds of youth statewide.