Hello everyone, my name is Griffin, and I am an intern at the Milwaukee office. Every year, it’s tradition that the summer interns plan and host a big tailgate at a Milwaukee Brewers game. As you may know, tailgating in Wisconsin is a HUGE deal and many people around here know how to “do it the right way,” so the pressure was on. Once our “fun bunch” team got together to plan, a staff member quickly informed us that we had big shoes to fill, as last year’s tailgate was a ton of fun and going to be tough to top! I think I can speak for all the other interns when we decided we were going to make that staff member eat his words! 

The planning phase went well. As a group, we talked about fun ideas and team games we can play together. Through many meetings as a team, we narrowed down game ideas and roles for the event. With minor hiccups along the way and some adjustments to our game plan, we were all set for the event.
My role during the tailgate was sous chef. Jim, an assurance manager in the Milwaukee office, is the resident grill master. Last year, he grilled all the food for about 3.5 to 4 hours. He basically grilled the entire time, so he requested someone grill with him this year to speed up the process. I had gotten a grill last year (that I have never even taken it out of the box), so I volunteered to help him out. There was only one problem … I have never grilled before in my life.

On the day of the tailgate, I was pretty nervous. My dad is quite handy with the grill, and he let me know that it might be a rough go of it for my first time. He told me to practice before going out with the whole company. But per usual, I didn’t listen to his words of wisdom and decided to wing it the day of. When it came time to grill, Jim was a fantastic teacher! He helped me set up my grill and explained how to get the right temperature and where to place the coals. Once we got to grilling, everything went well, and I realized how much I actually liked it! We soaked the brats in Miller Lite, which everyone seemed to love, and cooked them. Even the firm’s CEO, Chris Bellamy, came over to let us know that the food tasted great! Overall, I had an amazing time at the tailgate, and I think next year I’ll have to grill with Jim again.

I hope everyone is enjoying their internship as much as I’m enjoying mine!

Griffin Schultz, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee