2025 Hello Colorado Springs program provides invaluable experiences, resources for summer interns

By: Darci Miller 

(Colorado Springs, CO) – When Daegan Ivins first started having conversations with Basis Partners about a civil engineering summer internship, one of the top things on her mind was housing.

The 23-year-old from Oklahoma attends the Colorado School of Mines in Golden and was worried about the logistics of spending a summer in Colorado Springs.

Basis Partners offered her a solution – the Hello Colorado Springs program through the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC.

Hello COS is a wraparound program that encourages young professionals to fall in love with their company and the Pikes Peak region, facilitating social events outside of work and providing affordable housing in partnership with Colorado College.

“If I got my own apartment, I’d have to worry about furniture, utilities, internet, all these things that I didn’t want to have to worry about,” Ivins said. “You also have to find a place that’s going to allow you to stay for a three-month lease. What I really liked about this option was that I didn’t have to worry about those things.”

Ivins moved to the Springs in May and, while the housing may have been the initial draw, the events were what made it a summer to remember.

Following move-in day on May 30, Hello COS offered eight events – one per week – to get the cohort of interns enjoying everything the city has to offer.

The program had its final event and closing ceremony on July 31 at Cave of the Winds.

“Hello Colorado Springs is such a great opportunity for young professionals to make connections and develop work-life balance,” said Yoonie Leake, the Hello Colorado Springs Events Manager. “We’re so appreciative of the companies for investing in the program and the future generation, and a huge thank you goes to our associate sponsors, Bluestaq and Entegris. Holistically, this program is a future investment in the workforce and attracting talent, and it’s so important for us to try to retain that talent. Whether they choose to live in Colorado Springs later or not, they’ve experienced it through this program and are leaving with memories and connections.”

This summer, the cohort took the Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak, enjoyed friendly competition at TopGolf, Gripstone Climbing, and WhirlyBall, took in a Colorado Springs Switchbacks game in a private suite, attended the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, and appreciated the natural wonders of Seven Falls.

“I’ve loved everything. It’s just amazing to have the opportunity to be able to go out and do things, and just be like, ‘Okay, I have something to do this week.’ I don’t have to figure it out. I don’t have to do anything. It’s already planned. All I have to do is show up and wear deodorant,” she laughed.

It’s a perfect setup for someone new to Colorado Springs, and Ivins isn’t the only member of the cohort who’s not local. Interns hail from Virginia, California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and even Lithuania, and have internships at Bluestaq, Entegris, BiggsKofford, Basis Partners, First Tee of Southern Colorado, and the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC.

Universities represented include Benedictine College, the Colorado School of Mines, Virginia Tech, Abilene Christian University, CU Boulder, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, and UMass Amherst.

But there are also interns from Colorado who attend the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado College, and Pikes Peak State College.

Drew Houchens, a junior at UCCS and a software engineering intern at Bluestaq, has lived in Colorado Springs since he was a baby, but signed up for Hello COS to explore his hometown.

“I thought it would be cool just to get integrated into some of the stuff maybe I haven’t seen before in Colorado Springs,” Houchens said. “It’s just the opportunity to experience some of the cooler parts of Colorado Springs. I really have enjoyed every single one that I’ve participated in. There hasn’t been one that I looked back and I was like, ‘I could’ve gone without that, or not gone to that.’”

Jacob Kalainoff, also a software engineering intern at Bluestaq, is from Virginia and attends Virginia Tech but visits his mother, who lives in Colorado Springs, for a month and a half each summer. Not quite an out-of-towner, not quite a local, Kalainoff has valued the opportunity to bond with the other interns in the cohort, including some of his coworkers at Bluestaq.

“We’ve become friends. With these guys, all day at work, I hang out with them,” Kalainoff said. “We take foosball breaks and play foosball for like 30 minutes, eat lunch together, so I’m pretty good friends with them. And through the program, too, it really helps because then you’re not just playing foosball together – you’re doing actual things together.”

Both Houchens and Kalainoff extoll the benefits of the program, even for locals.

“Honestly, I’ve learned a lot of new stuff that I didn’t even know about before,” Houchens said. “Even if you’re from Colorado Springs, I would say it’s definitely still worth it to participate in. Yoonie’s been so great about making everyone feel included and being a very valuable resource.

“Going into it being from Colorado Springs, I was kind of having some second thoughts. Like, ‘Should I be doing this? I know a lot of the stuff already.’ But I’m really, really happy that I did end up doing it because, like I said, Yoonie has been so awesome with all the things she’s provided and the opportunity she’s given us. A lot of it goes to her and her role within this program, but also just new experiences, getting to do the Cog Railway, getting a paid trip to TopGolf – not having to worry about some of the financials of it, too. It’s just been an awesome opportunity, and looking back, I obviously wouldn’t change anything. I’m really glad that I did it.”

As Ivins prepares to move out of the housing that enabled her to move to Colorado Springs, she reflects on a summer that was so much more than she bargained for.

“I really am glad that I chose this option,” she said. “I would 100% recommend this. We have done so many things this summer that I would’ve never done had I not been with this place, and there’s things now that I can recommend to my friends that come out. Overall, it has been an enormously positive experience.”