The Ron Rizzuto Student Opportunity Fund defrays costs for important career prep experiences
Before Andrew Bachrodt visited Nicaragua as part of a University of Denver class, he had never left the country. Growing up in South Carolina and Illinois, international travel hadn’t been on his radar, but through his studies at the DU’s Daniels College of Business, he’s had the opportunity to visit three continents and is even considering an international job opportunity after he graduates.
In the meantime, the rising senior—who is majoring in finance with a minor in management—is growing his knowledge base through an internship at ecoPortal in Auckland, New Zealand.
The eight-week opportunity began in June and was made possible, in part, by the Ron Rizzuto Student Opportunity Fund, which provides a $1,000 stipend for students doing unpaid internships with startups and nonprofit organizations. The stipend is aimed at defraying out of pocket costs for students doing unpaid work but gaining valuable experience while creating social impact.
“The Ron Rizzuto Student Opportunity Fund recognizes the outstanding contributions Professor Rizzuto made during his five decades of service to the Reiman School of Finance and Daniels,” said Conrad Ciccotello, director of the Reiman School of Finance. “During that time, Ron personally interviewed over 5,000 of his students and was instrumental in helping many of them to gain internships and full-time employment.”
The internship gave Bachrodt the chance to spend more time in New Zealand, where he previously completed a six-month study abroad program at the Otago University.
“I absolutely fell in love with being abroad,” Bachrodt said. “I also did two other study abroad programs, surfing in Nicaragua and food and culture in Japan, and every time it just opened my world. I was heavily motivated, and every single time I left one of those trips, I just knew I needed to find a way to get back.”
Shortly after finishing his time at Otago University, Bachrodt felt that familiar itch. He began searching for internship opportunities in New Zealand, sending dozens of emails and hearing his fair share of the word “no.” But before long, he made a connection at ecoPortal, a workplace-focused health and safety software company, and landed not only an interview, but a dream internship.
In his role, Bachrodt is working closely with the company’s CEO to migrate data into a platform called Budgee. The brand new platform is designed to help companies better forecast, and Andrew is helping test its capabilities by uploading balance sheets, cash flow sheets, future income and more. This allows ecoPortal to test scenarios and get a more accurate financial forecast.
Already, he’s helping the company come up with creative solutions to cash flow concerns.
“I was working in Budgee and noticed some cashflow issues. I knew that our IRRI (internal rate of return) was 12%. So, I had the idea that we could offer a discount for a down payment, and instead of a one-year lease, do two-year leases,” Bachrodt explained. “I did all the math, and I figured out that you could offer up to a 15% discount on a two-year lease and break even.”
While he’s enjoying helping ecoPortal thrive, Bachrodt is looking forward to returning to Denver for his final year at DU. Thanks to this new experience, he feels more prepared than ever to make the most of his time in the classroom.
“I noticed that in my finance classes, students who had had internships were more professional and able to answer the questions a lot better than those who hadn’t because their finance language was a lot better,” he said. “I’ve totally learned so much from this internship. Working with these numbers every single day has taught me so much. It gets repetitive sometimes looking at a number over and over and inputting data, but at the same time it’s becoming muscle memory.”
And it’s not just finance that’s sinking into his bones—it’s a love of the kind of growth that comes from experiencing something new and stepping away from the comfortable and familiar.
Bachrodt has always loved the adrenaline of surfing, snowboarding and meeting new people, and his time at DU and abroad has only helped him find new ways to chase that feeling.
“I love the feeling of being in another country, being away and just being in the moment, experiencing new smells, seeing the way people live and just full-on experience and living in the moment,” he said. “You have to put yourself in these situations to figure out who you are, what you love, and what you want to chase in this life.”