Partnership Turns Students into Creative Thinkers

Halff employees relish opportunities to solve problems for others.

The company’s participation in the mINiTERN Program during the fall with students from Dallas College has added even more creative thinking to the equation.

The mINiTERN Program pairs firms such as Halff with Dallas College to provide its students with real-world business and problem-solving skills. Each semester, teams of students are given thought-provoking situations from their partner companies and are challenged to prepare their findings for a final presentation.

El Centro is one of Dallas College’s seven campuses, located in downtown Dallas.

Halff’s team of Survey Practice Leader Vas Kalogirou, Geospatial Team Leader Rusty Steel and Human Resources Generalist Carlie Money presented a circumstance to the students in which Halff didn’t have a geospatial program in place.

They asked the students to recommend equipment in which the firm should invest to start the program. As students conducted their research, weekly check-ins were organized to answer questions and review the students’ findings. They collaborated on a final presentation to the Halff team at the end of the 10-week program near Thanksgiving.

“It has a lot of potential to develop further into an internship program that requires hardly any resources and provides virtual flexibility for the students and Halff,” Vas said.

The mINiTERN Program allows Halff to engage with the college community. It furnishes students with an avenue to gain real-world experience, network and think creatively.

Halff plans to continue partnering with the program in the spring.

“We had a lot of fun with it. It was interesting to see how students blossomed throughout the 10 weeks,” Carlie said. “We selected students we thought would add value to our company.”