May 16, 2008 A different kind of summer internship Play video

(Peter Howe, NECN) - Five Boston-area students will be taking over a Midwest industrial company for their summer internship.

NECN's Peter Howe explains.

Script:

Meet the interns. They are working this summer for an industrial processing company in Illinois...as the CEO.

Gabe, a Junior at Olin, and his four friends from Babson and Harvard will take over June 7th running 300 Below Inc. It is a multi-million dollar company in Decatur, Illinois with a dozen employees. 300 Below specializes in something called cryogenic processing, burnishing metals in extremely cold liquids, as in, 300 below.

The technology can be used for Indy 500 race cars, golf clubs, military weapons and optics. The CEO interns are convinced there are all sorts of new markets for 300 Below to tap.

How are they getting to run the company? Well, it was founded by the dad of their friend Prescott Paulin, a Babson Senior, who is joining the Marine Corps. Pete Paulin is agreeing to just be Chairman for the summer.