General Motors hosted a scavenger hunt throughout Detroit to showcase the revitalization of Detroit to 29 of its interns last Thursday. Teams of two to three interns and a GM representative rode in a 2015 Chevrolet Malibu or Cruze vehicle and completed different tasks throughout the city to earn a previously specified number of points.
The event began at the Renaissance Center with 2014’s Miss Michigan, KT Mavigila talking about the rebirth of Detroit and the important role millennials are playing in it. Afterward, the rules of the scavenger hunt were explained and teams announced.
Almost 30 GM interns attended Thursday’s event.
I was placed in group four with GM interns Gina Papas and Trevor Sabo, and GM representative Jim Cain; we drove a Chevy Cruze. My group visited almost 20 locations during the scavenger hunt – here are the highlights.
The scavenger hunt led the group to all the best locations Detroit has to offer in the Downtown, Midtown, and New Center areas. We began by driving down to Detroit’s riverfront. I had the opportunity to drive the Cruze first and I had a solid experience with it.
Next, we visited the Spirit of Detroit before driving up to Midtown. While in Midtown, we hit Shinola, Great Lakes Coffee, and the DIA. The irony of dozens of GM interns taking pictures in front of the Edsel Ford financed murals of the Ford River Rouge plant was a lot of fun.
GM Interns Trevor Sabo and Gina Papas enjoy Diego Rivera’s American Industry Murals.
After leaving the DIA, we travelled up to New Center, first visiting the Pure Detroit shop inside of the Fisher building, before going to the Motown Museum. After visiting Motown, we finished the scavenger hunt by heading to GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
Even though many of the GM interns are living downtown as well as working downtown this summer, some had never seen places highlighted on the scavenger hunt. Papas, who is from Ohio, had never seen most of the places in Detroit visited during the scavenger hunt.
“I thought it was really interesting,” she said.
In the end, I would say that the event achieved its desired result. GM was able to show almost 30 of its interns, some of the best Detroit has to offer, giving them a reason to return to Detroit after their internship is over.
GM isn’t the only company trying to showcase Detroit in a good light, in an effort to maintain top young talent, but their efforts are important. The 650 interns living and working downtown this summer are an important part of the thousands of interns working at all of the city’s companies.
Detroit is becoming a top work destination for millennials, and events like this one only improve the city’s image.
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