Catching Up - Stryker Parents Weekend

A couple weeks ago Julie and I were invited, along with the other parents of Styker summer interns, to attend some Parents Weekend events. Hannah is interning in the Finance Department of Stryker Endoscopy in San Jose.  As we learned that weekend, in layman's terms, endoscopy is where you bore a hole into a body and do stuff to the 'patient' through the holes.  Apparently, if you enter the body through an existing hole  (pick your fav) you're talking a whole different ballgame. But I digress.

The weekend started with dinner at a local restaurant Thursday evening.  Since we are 'locals' - most of the interns come from out of state - we've already had a chance to meet many of them during the summer.  So, the meal was mostly about getting a chance to meet Hannah's mentor (Lydia) and to hang with the interns and their parents. I also got a chance to chat with Bill Enguist - President of Strkyer Endoscopy - because his son is also one of the interns.  Bill's an impressive leader who has created a world class corporate culture and product line.  Hannah is in good hands.

Friday we were hosted in plant.  The morning started with presentations from Stryker management.  We learned about Stryker's history (it was started in Kalamazoo in 1941 by Homer Stryker!) and about how the Endoscopy organization has grown into a medical powerhouse.  Each of the interns also gave a brief introduction of themselves and the projects they are working on during the summer.  They are each being given a lot of responsibility and opportunity to showcase their talents.

Oh.. and speaking of showcasing talents.. the next segment of the morning was devoted to a game of Jeopardy!  Yes, one of the key attributes of the interns is their competitive nature (like we didn't know THAT).  So, we formed into 5 teams to experience a bit of Stryker's culture - healthy, but challenging competition.  The way they implemented the 'buzzer' for answering questions was to give the cell phone number of the 'judge' out to each team.  Then, when an clue was revealed one person on each team was responsible for texting the answer 'in the form of a question' to the judge.  The order of answers was determined by the time each text was received.  Naturally, Hannah was our texter :)  and let's just say she did a fabulous job!  It would be completely immodest for me to point out that we smoke-showed the other four teams.  Additionally, it would be unseemly for me to point out that we didn't even need to bet in the Final Jeopardy round to win due to our staggering lead.  No, that just wouldn't be right.  So, I'll just show you a picture of the interns on our team (Michelle and Hannah) - next to the scoreboard and let you figure out how we did for yourselves ;).   I would like to point out that Michelle and her mother spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME reading US Weekly.  That was one of the categories - which we smote the competition in  (did I type that outloud?).  Also, one of my favorite questions was Stryker for $400:  'what was Stryker's highest stock price over the last 52 weeks - within $2'.  I just looked and Hannah and said $60.  Since it was a high $$ question she started asking me if I was absolutely sure.  $60 I said.  Or, if you like - put it in at $58 because it was probably just below $60.  So, she sent in $60.  The correct answer?  $59.72.  I was off by $0.28.  SHA BOO YAH!!  Ooops.. immodest, I know.

Next it was off for a plant tour.  The plant is home for about 600 employees comprising both engineering development, manufacturing, marketing and customer service.  Fortunately, they decided NOT to take us into the human cadaver lab.  Many thanks to the organizers for that decision.  However, they also have a complete mock up of their endoscopy surgical suite.  So, we got to go in and view a live demonstration of many of the products the interns are currently working on.  You can imagine my excitement when we got to watch some videos of real endoscopic procedures!  NOT!  But, I lived through it and enjoyed when the interns and parents got to have a go at the demo cadaver.

Here's Sol and Michelle.

Hannah and Michelle

Eric (yes Joanne... THAT Eric)

All in all it was a great day.  Stryker is an impressive company and I am grateful for the opportunity they gave Hannah this summer to experience life in a vibrant, growing company.  It was a fun day!