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Dakota State Alumni Return to Campus

Madison -- Three Dakota State Alumni returned to campus April 4 to make a presentation to classes in the College of Business and Information Systems. David Reaves, class of 1990, Lori Fischer, Class of 1994, and Darin Reinsma, Class of 1996, came back to Dakota State to talk to current students about their experiences working at Schwan’s Enterprises in Marshall, Minnesota. They were accompanied by Todd Dirckx, College Relations Manager for Schwan’s, and a familiar face on the DSU campus, as he visits often in recruiting and interviewing efforts for Schwan’s .

Speaking to Brian Carlson’s applications class of thirty -five, the trio first showed a video on career opportunities available at Schwan’s and then gave individual accounts of their duties with the corporation. Reaves, a senior programmer and analyst told the students his main responsibility lay with users, determining their needs, and then working with his team to write the necessary programs. He has also helped develop in-house training to better serve the needs of the Schwan’s workforce. He stressed communication, technical, and business skills as the ones most called upon in his position.

Reinsma gave some insight into how a new employee is assimilated into the Schwan’s environment. Since joining the team in Marshall, Reinsma has worked mainly as a COBOL programmer, but he does do other things such as providing technical support and some analysis functions. He stressed the importance of the COBOL classes he took at DSU, telling students to get as much information from these courses as possible from the classroom, as it was greatly emphasized on the job.

Lori Fischer, an information consultant with Schwan’s, called herself the "go-to" person at the company. Her main responsibility is to provide technical support to employees. She felt business and speech classes were imperative for success in the corporate world, and stressed the importance of attention to details. Fischer also spoke about the value of the internship she had at Schwan’s while a student at DSU, and encouraged the students to investigate the possibility of an internship themselves.

Schwan’s was founded 45 years ago, and most people recognize it for its distinct yellow trucks and ice cream products. In the years since its inception, Schwan’s has grown into a global enterprise. Employees at Schwan’s work to find creative solutions to managing this world-wide corporation, and use video conferencing and a satellite system to keep its diverse units in communication. For more information on Schwan’s , go to their page on the world wide web at www.schwans.com/careers.