A five-year partnership between Dominican University and Wintrust Financial is giving 10 students an opportunity to gain real-world experience in business and finance.

Two Dominican students selected for the first year of the new fellowship are working in 12-week paid internships at Wintrust locations this summer, with another eight students to be selected over the remaining four years.

In addition to providing paid internship opportunities at financial institutions, Wintrust has committed $100,000 in scholarships to be divided among the selected students over the five years of the partnership.

“We’re tying in with a premiere university like Dominican to provide ample opportunities for the exceptional students coming out of the Brennan School of Business to have strong positions within a great organization,” said Chris Griffith, director of commercial development with Oak Park Bank, a Wintrust financial institutional.

The fellowship is a continuation of an ongoing relationship between Wintrust and Dominican that has included prior internship opportunities for business students.

The students selected as the first two Wintrust fellows under the new partnership are Peyton Arsenault, an accounting major, and Lesly Salguero, who is majoring in finance. Arsenault is working with bankers, portfolio managers and commercial banking credit analysts at a Wintrust location in Chicago. Salguero is working with the real estate loan team at Wintrust Bank in Chicago’s Loop.

“It’s a really good applied, hands-on experience,” said Lisa Malvin, assistant director of career programs and internships with Dominican’s Brennan School of Business.

The students were among 10 who applied and were considered for the fellowship. Salguero impressed the selection panel with her ease of conversation, a necessity for anyone with a client-facing role in a bank, Griffith said. Arsenault’s knowledge of finance and strong interest in pursuing a career in this area led to his selection, Griffith added.

“We’re really trying to provide a great avenue for student experiences and we, as a business, want to garner value from the students as well,” he explained.

Salguero said she is learning what a loan analyst does on a daily basis and enjoys working with a team of employees.

“My team wants all the interns to succeed and they want us to make sure what we’re doing is something we actually like,” she said.

The internship has given Salguero the real-world experience of working in a financial office and has opened her eyes to the world of banking, which she is now considering as a potential career path, she said.

“You think about what you’re going to do in the future, all the possibilities, but being there first-hand with my team putting me in situations I will potentially work in in the future has been a great learning experience,” Salguero said.

“To anyone who wants a good internship, I would definitely recommend they apply for this one,” she added.

In addition to the fellowships, Dominican’s partnership with Wintrust includes plans for university faculty to work with Wintrust representatives on future research projects within specific communities. Details are still being worked out.

The financial services company is also involved in the Small Business Tool Set developed by Dominican students Karyme Castro, John Condron, Trey Cowan, Yaslin Lopez and Paul Sondhaus with business professor Mike Kiyosaki.

The tool set website, offered in English and in Spanish, provides tips for small businesses in areas of marketing, operations, finance, communication and customer success. Griffith said he and partner Melissa Cleveland, director of retail banking with Oak Park Bank, reviewed the plan and offered some suggestions, and work is underway to refine the site so it can potentially be referred to Wintrust clients who are small business owners.

Roberto Curci, vice provost and dean of Dominican’s Brennan School of Business, said both Dominican and Wintrust benefit from the ongoing partnership.

“It’s a win-win because Wintrust is committed to the community,” Curci said. “They serve local companies and we serve local students. That is a reason we want to continue to work together.”