Will this internship actually matter, or will I spend the summer fetching coffee?
It’s the right question to ask, and the best answer we can give is to show you a real day. Walser’s NextGen internship program runs on the belief that people starting out should do work that counts. One way we do that is through Accelerate Days, lunch-and-learn sessions where the whole intern group comes together to build skills and learn from people across the business. Our second one ended in a way that says everything about working here, with an afternoon spent volunteering for two local nonprofits.
First, Allow Us to Reintroduce Ourselves.
Walser Automotive Group is a family-founded company that started in Minnesota back in 1954 and has grown to more than 25 dealerships across several states. But the part that matters for this story is how the company thinks about its people and its community. Walser operates on four core values: do the right thing, lead by example, display positive energy, and be open-minded. Those are not just words on a wall. They genuinely show up in how the company hires, develops people, and gives back.
In other words, Walser is a car company, but the culture is built around people first. That’s the backdrop for everything we do here.
What Is NextGen?
NextGen is Walser’s program for early-career talent, the interns and newer team members who are just getting started. The whole idea is that people starting out should do meaningful work and get real mentorship, see the whole business, not sit on the sidelines.
A big part of the program is what we call Accelerate Days. Think of an Accelerate Day as a full day where the group comes together, away from the usual routine, to learn hands-on, work on actual projects, and connect with mentors and leaders from across the business. It’s part skill-building, part relationship-building, and part seeing what your own future at the company could look like, from people who are actually living that path.
How We Spent the Afternoon
Instead of wrapping up at our desks, the whole group spent the last half of the day volunteering for two Minnesota nonprofits. We split into two efforts, each supporting a different group of neighbors.
Writing greeting cards for Gifts for Seniors
One group wrote personal cards for Gifts for Seniors, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit focused on a problem that does not get talked about enough: loneliness and social isolation among older adults. That isolation is not just sad, it’s genuinely bad for people’s health, and Gifts for Seniors exists to fight it through human connection. Here’s the impact in plain terms. For an older adult who doesn’t get much mail and does not see many people, a handwritten card is proof that someone out there thought about them. Sometimes it’s the only personal note they’ll receive all month.
Tying blankets for My Very Own Bed
The other group made cozy blankets for My Very Own Bed, an organization that provides new beds and bedding to children who are moving into stable housing, often after a stretch of instability or homelessness. The impact here is just as real. Imagine being a kid who has not had a bed to call your own, and then you get one, with a brand-new blanket that feels like it was picked just for you. That is a small thing that helps a scary, unfamiliar new place start to feel safe and like home. Every knot the team tied went toward exactly that.
See the Day for Yourself
Our NextGen team wrote cards and tied blankets to close out our second Accelerate Day. Sound on, if you want the full effect.
Words can only do so much. The video above shows what the day actually felt like, the teamwork, the focus, and a group of people genuinely glad to be doing it together.
A Different Kind of Internship
Here is the honest takeaway, especially if you are exploring where to start your career.
A lot of companies will offer you an internship. Far fewer will put real work in front of you, surround you with mentors who actively want you to succeed, and then build giving back into the culture so completely that an afternoon of volunteering is simply part of the job. That combination, real growth plus real community, is rare, and it is exactly what Walser’s core values look like in practice rather than on paper.
If you want to grow fast, do work you are proud of, and join a team that shows up for each other and for their neighbors, this is what that looks like day to day. And that team is exactly who we are hoping to welcome next.
Ready to Join Us?
Our next group of NextGen interns is out there, and it could be you. Take a look at internship and early-career opportunities at Walser. We would love to meet you.
