Most summer internships give students three months of basic training in Office Skills 101.

This month, four OU students got the internship of a lifetime that lasted only one week.

Shell Oil Company, one of the United States' leading oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers, offered a week-long program that condensed all that one might learn from a whole summer internship into a rigorous one-week training course.

The program chose 46 college seniors from schools such as Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Michigan and Stanford University to work in groups alongside Shell business executives to solve real-world challenges in the energy sector, according to a press release. Adam Bortka, chemical engineering senior, Heidy Correa, geophysics and petroleum engineering graduate student, Katherine Moore, geology graduate student and Kathryn Murray, petroleum engineering senior, were selected for the Shell Business Challenge from OU.

"OU is one of our core schools to recruit from. Shell focuses on OU undergrad and graduate students that demonstrate the qualities we are looking for," said Cary Wilkens, director of attraction and recruitment for the Americas region for Shell.

The students in the program spent one week on a fictitious island in the Indian Ocean called "Gourami", which was actually located at the Western Mission Hills Resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Working 12- to 14-hour days, participants made decisions regarding Gourami's refining operations, oil and gas discoveries and marketing products to consumers, all while working on a budget. At the end of the week, each group presented its five-year Gourami proposals to Shell's top executives, who acted as a group of mock shareholders.

Wilkens said the goal of the week was to simulate real-life experiences in the energy industry and real-life experiences at Shell.

Bortka said he enjoyed the adrenaline rush the time crunch created.

"My favorite part was probably the Thursday night before our big presentation on Friday. It was really intense, and everyone was scrambling around trying to finalize things, but our group got so much done with such little time that night. It was pretty neat," Bortka said in an e-mail.

While engineering and business students were primarily sought after for this program, Bortka said he felt he had a broad base of knowledge, thanks to classes he took at OU.

"I have had several classes here that have combined technical engineering knowledge with basic finance and economics, and that was very helpful for the week," Bortka said. "In the end, the projects that are the most valuable are the ones that get approved, and my classes had given me the ability to accurately evaluate which of our projects would be most valuable."

Students from other prestigious universities attended the week-long experience, but Bortka said he felt his education from OU held up well to those of his peers from other schools.

"I felt that my technical knowledge was just as good as any other engineer on the trip, including kids from more prestigious schools like MIT and Stanford. And I think that my feel for the business side of the projects was better than most of the other engineers," he said.

Shell saw this business challenge not just as an opportunity for the students to learn more about the energy business, but also as a recruiting opportunity for future employees, according to the press release.

"Everyone on the last day sat through an actual one-on-one job interview. From that interview and from the observations they made of me that week, they decide whether or not I get an offer to work full time. They did several presentations throughout the week showcasing all the opportunities there are to work for Shell," said Bortka.

Murray left a different summer internship a week early to participate in the Shell Business Challenge.

"I took the Shell Business Challenge in addition to my 10-week internship because it was a chance for me to get to experience two great companies in one summer," Murray said.

Mewbourne Chair Professor and Graduate School Liaison Chandra S. Rai said he believes students in the petroleum engineering program, like Murray, are sought after because OU's petroleum engineering program has many different components that come together, such as "illustrious alumni" and "rich traditions." Oklahoma is also located in "the heart of oil and natural gas," Rai said.

Wilkens also praised OU for its fine business and engineering schools.

Bortka said he learned about the industry and about teamwork throughout this experience.

"Most importantly, I learned to appreciate what a long chain of people and teams it takes for an energy company like Shell to operate and how crucial it is that each of those groups is willing and able to work together to find the best solution for the company, rather than for each individual team," he said.
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