DENVER - When June rolls around, most students around the University of Denver scatter to enjoy a summer break. The Denver basketball players, on the other hand, stick around campus, attend summer classes and play countless games of basketball against each other.
A few of the players also use the summer to prepare them to go pro (as they say in the NCAA advertisements) in something other than sports.
Seniors Kyle Lewis (Denver, Colo.), Rob Lewis (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Andrew Hooper(Lakewood, Colo.) all spent their summer completing internships, preparing for successful careers once their playing days are finished.
For the second-straight summer, Kyle Lewis worked for Lazarus Investment Partners, and Rob Lewis was at Ryan Financial. Hooper honed his graphic design skills while working at Portaviola Design in Lakewood.
Kyle worked primarily with Lazarus Chief Investment Officer Justin Borus, who invests in companies with a market cap of $250 million or less. Borus invests in companies that struggled and lost stock value after a period of success, and he attempts to help turn around those companies.
"I was basically a junior analyst," said Kyle, who used screening tools to research potential companies in which Lazarus could invest. "I screened different companies, whether it was a gold company or one that had a new innovation, whatever the market was feeding off at the time. You can throw those values into the screening software and see which companies come up that are at $250 million or less, and then research them. He invested in two of the companies that I showed him this summer, and both made a positive return, so it was a good summer."
Kyle's duties progressed this year, partially because he was returning to Lazarus after working there last year, but also because the economy was improving.
"Since last year, (Borus) hired an investor relations guy, who is involved in all the marketing, and also a controller," Kyle said. "I was involved with both of those guys, helping with the marketing material. I actually had to make analyst reports that go out to investors within the company as well as potential investors. I was a lot more involved this summer. It was necessarily about raising more capital last year; it was more about investing while the market was still beat up. This summer is was more about raising capital and investing at the same time, so I was on both sides of things."
For the second summer, Rob once again donned a coat and tie and headed to Ryan Financial, but he too found his role increasing in responsibility.
"I was preparing some reports on my own. Last summer, I was more behind the scenes," Rob said. "I was helping to prepare client reports when they would come in, looking at their accounts to see how they were doing. I would do a general market overview. Other than that, I did a lot of operations, trying to manage the accounts and clean up some stuff. They just switched to a new software program, so I helped them work through that transition. I also sat in on a lot of meetings, which was great to see the interactions within the business world."
While many DU student-athletes study in the business school, like Rob and Kyle, Hooper has always felt more at home in an art studio, where his creativity helps him excel. Therefore, he landed an internship that made sense for his career path.
"I worked with Gretchen Lehman from Portaviola Design," Hooper said. "She has an independent graphic design firm down in Highlands Ranch. It was a great opportunity to work with a freelance graphic designer, because that's what I ultimately want to do after college."
Hooper spent the majority of the summer in front of a computer, designing everything from letterheads to business portfolios to a label that Lehman planned to use as a create way to court new clients.
"Overall, I think it helped me a ton. I have connections already from her, and I've already gotten some freelance work on my own," Hooper said. "I'm more comfortable doing other design elements, as opposed to using one computer program or another. It's helped me a lot already, and I think it will continue to help."
Happy Birthday: Two-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection and former Denver guard Nate Rohnert is celebrating his birthday today.
A few of the players also use the summer to prepare them to go pro (as they say in the NCAA advertisements) in something other than sports.
Seniors Kyle Lewis (Denver, Colo.), Rob Lewis (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Andrew Hooper(Lakewood, Colo.) all spent their summer completing internships, preparing for successful careers once their playing days are finished.
For the second-straight summer, Kyle Lewis worked for Lazarus Investment Partners, and Rob Lewis was at Ryan Financial. Hooper honed his graphic design skills while working at Portaviola Design in Lakewood.
Kyle worked primarily with Lazarus Chief Investment Officer Justin Borus, who invests in companies with a market cap of $250 million or less. Borus invests in companies that struggled and lost stock value after a period of success, and he attempts to help turn around those companies.
"I was basically a junior analyst," said Kyle, who used screening tools to research potential companies in which Lazarus could invest. "I screened different companies, whether it was a gold company or one that had a new innovation, whatever the market was feeding off at the time. You can throw those values into the screening software and see which companies come up that are at $250 million or less, and then research them. He invested in two of the companies that I showed him this summer, and both made a positive return, so it was a good summer."
Kyle's duties progressed this year, partially because he was returning to Lazarus after working there last year, but also because the economy was improving.
"Since last year, (Borus) hired an investor relations guy, who is involved in all the marketing, and also a controller," Kyle said. "I was involved with both of those guys, helping with the marketing material. I actually had to make analyst reports that go out to investors within the company as well as potential investors. I was a lot more involved this summer. It was necessarily about raising more capital last year; it was more about investing while the market was still beat up. This summer is was more about raising capital and investing at the same time, so I was on both sides of things."
For the second summer, Rob once again donned a coat and tie and headed to Ryan Financial, but he too found his role increasing in responsibility.
"I was preparing some reports on my own. Last summer, I was more behind the scenes," Rob said. "I was helping to prepare client reports when they would come in, looking at their accounts to see how they were doing. I would do a general market overview. Other than that, I did a lot of operations, trying to manage the accounts and clean up some stuff. They just switched to a new software program, so I helped them work through that transition. I also sat in on a lot of meetings, which was great to see the interactions within the business world."
While many DU student-athletes study in the business school, like Rob and Kyle, Hooper has always felt more at home in an art studio, where his creativity helps him excel. Therefore, he landed an internship that made sense for his career path.
"I worked with Gretchen Lehman from Portaviola Design," Hooper said. "She has an independent graphic design firm down in Highlands Ranch. It was a great opportunity to work with a freelance graphic designer, because that's what I ultimately want to do after college."
Hooper spent the majority of the summer in front of a computer, designing everything from letterheads to business portfolios to a label that Lehman planned to use as a create way to court new clients.
"Overall, I think it helped me a ton. I have connections already from her, and I've already gotten some freelance work on my own," Hooper said. "I'm more comfortable doing other design elements, as opposed to using one computer program or another. It's helped me a lot already, and I think it will continue to help."
Happy Birthday: Two-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection and former Denver guard Nate Rohnert is celebrating his birthday today.
No comments:
Post a Comment