For 5-year-old Evie Owens, The Home Depot was so much more than a store.
Growing up, Evie and her sister Virginia trailed their dad through the aisles of the Marietta, GA, store, captivated by the hustle and bustle, the towering orange shelves and the thousands of products. The girls searched for everything they needed to make Dad’s latest DIY dream a reality.
But it was a Kids Workshop that left the greatest impression on young Evie, who’s now a senior at Georgia Tech and one of 230 summer interns at The Home Depot.
“It was a great way to bring families together, and a chance for me to do what my dad was doing,” Evie says. “I remember being so proud to have my own apron. I felt empowered when I got the tools and started building, like there’s nothing I can’t accomplish.”
The workshop experience even stuck with Evie as she considered potential employers.
“I remembered the strong culture and the passion in the eyes of the associates,” she says.
Evie’s not alone. Turns out several of The Home Depot’s interns picked up their first DIY skills years ago at Kids Workshops. They shared share their memories with us when the company recently celebrated the program’s 20th anniversary.
Taylor Palmer, a senior at Mercer University and Home Services Marketing intern, attended workshops with her brother while their dad was a store manager in Michigan and Wisconsin.
“If you give parents and their kids the opportunity to make something together and learn a skill, they’ll remember that forever,” Taylor says.
Merchandising Intern Max Linares attended Kids Workshops with his grandfather, who was a store associate in Tampa.
“Every time I saw a Home Depot I thought of my grandpa and the projects we did together,” Max says. “I’m pretty sure he still has the birdhouse we built in his backyard.”
Today, these interns are busy working behind-the-scenes to keep The Home Depot on the leading edge of retail. They’re not building bird birdhouses or toolboxes, but their enthusiasm for the company hasn’t wavered.
“I always wished that I could work for Home Depot,” Taylor recalls. “When I realized that you can get a business or marketing degree and still work here, that was a cool moment.”
“[Home Depot] is so much more than a storefront. It’s a dynamic, exciting place to be,” Evie says.
See 5-year-old Evie and her sister put their Kids Workshop skills into action in this home video:
