Lincoln, Neb. — The Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance is so proud of former Yeutter Student Fellow, John Trilling, who spent his summer interning with Brooks, the running shoe company, in Seattle. John is a rising senior majoring in Economics.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
I will be a senior at the University of Nebraska in the fall and planning to graduate in May 2025. I am initially from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, a suburb of Madison. In addition to being a Yeutter Student Fellow last school year, I have been able to be a member of a couple of other fantastic organizations on campus such as the Nebraska Business Honors Academy, the Men's Soccer Club, the Clifton Strengths Institute, and UNL Unified Special Olympics Club.
How did you develop an interest in economics and international trade?
Through my early course work, I developed an interest in economics and declared it as a major after my freshman year. International trade specifically piqued my interest for a couple of reasons. Its ever-changing landscape and environment always pose new challenges and requires new perspectives, both which lead to growth as an individual. The field of international trade also opens so many doors as a professional.
Congratulations on your summer internship with Brooks! Can you tell us a little bit about what you've been doing this summer in Seattle?
I had the opportunity to work as a Transportation Analyst Intern with Brooks, the running shoe company, this summer. The transportation team is broken into two factions: an inbound team that manages getting our goods from the factory overseas to our distribution centers, and then an outbound team that manages getting the goods from the distribution center to the retailer or customers. My project this summer was to revolutionize their reporting and data analysis practices to enhance cost visibility throughout each stage of the inbound process. This improved reporting has helped the team make timely, more informed decisions, as well as drive analysis into other aspects of the supply chain process.
How was your experience as a Yeutter Student Fellow, and how did it shape you?
Through my experience as a Yeutter Fellow, I felt that I was able to grow a lot. The first portion of the fellowship was extremely beneficial as we had the opportunity to connect with and pick the brains of professionals in the international trade industry. These meetings significantly improved my knowledge of international trade and had me well prepared for the second phase of the fellowship which was the completion of a research/consulting project for Valmont Industries. We spent an entire semester researching and understanding Valmont's current business practices, the global ethanol industry, and where the ethanol industry is going to be in the coming years and decades. In the end, we presented our findings to Valmont representatives at their headquarters in Omaha. I gained valuable research, communication, and project management skills as a result of this experience. Additionally, our project advisors, Jill O'Donnell and Cheyenne Gerlach, continually challenged us to dive deeper into our research and look at the information from new perspectives throughout the entirety of the project. This allowed us to develop a better understanding of the quality and content required of a report of this scope.
Looking ahead, what are your long-term career goals in economics and international trade? How do you plan to make an impact in this field?
After my experiences this summer, I would love to be able to manage international relationships within a single company with global operations. I am someone who has always thrived on building tight knit relationships with others, but my opportunities to build those relationships with individuals outside of the United States have been relatively limited. This path will also allow me to make meaningful decisions and be able to see the immediate impact those decisions can have on a company.