Kicking off less than three weeks ago, the Extreme Blue™ program has already made quite an impression on its participants. Early returns are strong as business and technical interns from all four U.S. sites offered high praise for the program, lauding its structure, staff, teamwork, and talent.

"This is a totally different program than anything I've ever seen and heard of before. It's more successful by an order of magnitude," says Dave Dopson, a technical intern in the Almaden lab. "If you ran a whole business like this, it couldn't help but be a success."

Praising the program’s successful fusion of business and technology, participants noteda focusing of technical efforts toward marketable deliverables and a rich environment for hybrid innovation.

"Having served as an IBM client rep for six years prior, I haven't seen this type of coordination between IBM research, IBM sales and IBM strategy," explains Lawson Brice, the customer briefing intern in Austin.

In addition to furthering IBM objectives of postgraduate placement, the program's emphasis on career development has thus far enriched the summer experience. Interns highly valued the program's placement meetings, executive visits and project presentations and the personal skill-building (especially public presentation practice), and networking opportunities they have enabled.

"The placement team came in and made us feel they want us around in the future," says Lisa Guglielmi, an Almaden business lead. "It's a nice way to set up an internship. Everyone gets something out of it, and maybe in the future there will be something more."

Patrick Barry, a Raleigh technical intern, spoke of a feeling of importance and empowerment generated by company outreach, a sense of "I'm here and can make a difference."

Interns also praised the program's human environment, admiring the breadth and depth of talent present, the personal caliber of the other interns and the degree of teamwork fostered at the program's outset.

"I'm blown away by the capability and skills of the people here," says Sarah McCahill, a Cambridge business lead.

Barry called his Extreme Blue labmates "the most intelligent group I've been around."

For Cambridge technical intern Jennifer Schachter, the composition of the Cambridge lab was particularly striking.

"I'm impressed that there are as many females as there are. I'm used to being the only girl. It's nice to have other females and other tech females."

A ropes course in Raleigh, a bridge building exercise in Cambridge, a scavenger hunt in Austin, and second day presentations to executives in Almaden all received praise for quickly and successfully promoting teamwork.

"Building the team was more important than anything we did in the workplace, and that meant a lot to me," adds Barry.

Dobson noted a clear sense of shared responsibility and a vibrant social atmosphere in the lab.

"Everyone here you can talk to and hold a conversation with. They’re trying to put the best people together, not only from a technical side, but also from a teamwork perspective."

A full menu of recreational activities, such as the Almaden excursion to Yosemite National Park, has furthered the program's early social success.

"Having those activities planned makes it such an encompassing experience," says Guglielmi. "It makes you feel like the company values you as a team and as a whole."

Fostering a complete and cohesive experience, Extreme Blue staff members received extraordinarily high marks from the interns. Participants praised their diligence, warmth, and support.

"The amount the people in charge care about you and the amount of effort they go through is very impressive," says Barry.

"The staff is awesome," claims Cambridge business lead Ramesh Hariharan. "They really make an effort to create a sense of community. The staff's time and planning - it's something you tend to overlook, but when you're working day to day, it's quite important."

A roaring start has bred recognition of a fundamentally unique experience and spawned elevated expectations for the rest of the summer.