Meet our 2023 Summer Interns! 

At Turn Services, our family is always growing. This summer, we are happy to include college-aged interns as part of our team. Bringing in new talent and offering knowledge about the maritime industry and the business we do has been a great experience for us as a company and for our interns.  

We are proud to welcome back Piper Franks for her second summer as an intern at Turn Services in the New Orleans Office. Piper is a rising sophomore at Louisiana State University where she is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business and is concentrating on entering the marketing field. Piper works mostly with Dawn Lopez, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations, and Darlene Valdez, HR manager, yet helps all the departments around the office. Piper had her first experience interning with Turn Services right before she graduated high school, so she was very nervous coming into it—but Piper says “everyone on the team was so nice and welcoming that I was set at ease. I could really see myself doing something like this after college—working for a company’s marketing team.” Piper said she returned to Turn Services as an intern this Summer as she really enjoyed shadowing and learning from both Dawn and Darlene.  

Piper says that what she has found most interesting during her internship is the task of marketing jobs to potential hires and crafting posts for our social media. She adds that her favorite part about getting to work for Turn Services is working alongside some of her father’s coworkers and learning about what he does, as her father works for our sister company Associated Terminals. “I think the most valuable takeaway from the internship this far is that hard work today can result in future success,” says Piper.  

“I have had the pleasure of working with Piper during her internships at Turn. She brings such a positive energy to the office. She has so many fresh ideas and insight into what the newest generation of workers are looking for,” says Darlene. 

Katie Lowe is our Marketing and Public Relations Intern in the New Orleans office. She is a rising senior at Tulane University but lived in the South Florida area before relocating here. At Tulane, she is working towards a Communications degree with a double minor in Business and Psychology.  

At Turn Services, she works mostly with Dawn Lopez and Art Yves of our Marketing Department. She has been working at Turn Services since late February but has been able to shift her work to fully in person since the start of the Summer.  

“In February, we received an application via Work Nola from Katie. From the first phone interview, we knew we had found the perfect match. Katie is an incredible writer who takes an assignment and creates multidimensional articles that are both informative, insightful, and entertaining,” says Dawn.  

“I never thought about working in maritime, but I couldn’t be happier that I found this job. I’ve really enjoyed finding creative ways to write stories about our business and marketing it,” says Katie. Katie brings writing experience to the table due to her experience writing for two Tulane student-run magazines as well as Where Y’At Magazine. She often writes content for Turn Service’s social media, blog posts, and for communications with outside organizations. Katie’s main project has been working on bringing back our company newsletter, “Turn 360.” 

“While the maritime industry is new Katie, her drive to learn and share her knowledge with the reader makes her invaluable to our team. We are excited that she has one more year in school and we will be able to work with her,” says Dawn. 

“My experience at Turn Services has been great. Dawn and Art are true mentors and have taught me so much during these past few months,” says Katie. After her graduation, she is seeking a career in marketing, public relations, or journalism.  

Turn Services has provided professional and personal growth for our interns, and we cannot wait to see all they do. We wish both Piper and Katie the best with their experience at Turn Services and beyond!