After Preston Jorland’s sophomore year at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), he returned home to Grand Rapids and went door to door — from finance firms to city hall — looking for internship opportunities.

“I did that so many times,” Jorland said. Eventually, his persistence paid off: he accepted an internship as a finance intern with the City of Grand Rapids. The role strengthened the analytical skills he was developing in UMD’s Financial Markets Program and gave him early experience working with real financial data.

When he returned to campus in the fall, Jorland was motivated to build on that momentum. Learning from the challenges of his door-to-door search, he began preparing for his next internship with more intention, networking with people in the industry and preparing for interviews between classes. His preparation paid off, and he spent the following summer interning at LoCorr, a firm specializing in low-correlating investment strategies headquartered on Lake Minnetonka, where he learned about the financial services industry in a high-stakes, intellectually rigorous setting.

Now in his senior year, Jorland has two internships under his belt and has accepted a full‑time position as an investment banking analyst in Minneapolis. As he reflected on the path that led him to success, he realized an opportunity to help first and second-year finance students navigate the competitive world of internships more effectively. So he formed a peer-to-peer mentorship program as a way to give back.

“People have helped me get to this point, now it’s my turn to help others,” Jorland said.

The group meets weekly to discuss technical concepts, share networking tips, workshop resumes, and make onsite visits to top firms in the industry to network with industry professionals. Each student is paired with a senior member of the program so they always have someone to turn to for advice.

“Internships, which lead to return offers for full-time jobs, recruit 12 to 18 months out in advance,” Jorland said. Through peer-to-peer mentorship, students can get a head start on their internship search, and “identify what they want to do early so they can lead with more purpose and intention.”

Jorland’s leadership is inspired and modeled after Joe Artim, Director of the Financial Markets Program at UMD.  “He really teaches living a life of significance, humility, and putting others before yourself,” Jorland said. “That's something that really resonated with me and allowed an opportunity for me to give back to my campus community.”

Jorland has transitioned his mentorship program to new leadership so it will continue after he graduates, and pay dividends in preparing students for future success.

“It's important for me to leave things better than I found them,” he said.