1. My STEP Signature Project was an Accounting Internship at a company called Velosio in Dublin, Ohio. During this experience I was able to learn about the field of accounting and actively work on different tasks to enhance my knowledge. This entailed credit card reconciliations, payroll assignments, and various other financial tasks.
2. Throughout this experience I was able to learn more about myself and what I still need to learn in order to be a successful accountant. In the beginning of the internship I had done very little actual accounting work outside of class, so I was nervous to see how my classroom skills would transfer to the outside business world. I was challenged and pushed every day of the internship, but I worked hard to be able to learn. Now I feel that after this experience I have chosen the correct career path and am way more comfortable in my future field. These skills that I learned will benefit me for my entire adult professional life.
3. When thinking about the overall experience of my internship there were a few key events, relationships and activities that led to my transformation to a more polished business professional. The first was the relationship I established with my boss, coworkers, and other interns. I came into my job not knowing anyone and a little intimidated by the seemingly vast knowledge that each of these professionals displayed. However, very quickly they taught me the necessary skills to succeed and were very open and kind to me. I felt free to ask questions if I needed to and this helped me learn quicker. By the end of the internship I felt like I had gained valuable connections with each of the people I worked with daily.

An event that helped me transform into a better business professional was the monthly town hall meetings and final presentation. In the meetings I was able to see how the work I was doing was making an impact on the company as a whole. It allowed me to see how different facets of the business all contributed to our company’s end goal. In addition, the final presentation at the end of my internship allowed me and the other interns to display what we had learned and track the progress that we had made. It was a fun project to work on because I was able to collaborate with smart people and display my knowledge at the same time.

Lastly, I would say the daily activities that I would do to assist the accounting team helped me tremendously. I was able to see what it is like day in and day out being an accountant. I was also able to apply many classroom skills to the real world in dealing with the company’s financial reports. It was interesting to see how much I could push myself with a somewhat limited knowledge. All of these things led me to transform from someone with a small accounting background into someone that is comfortable as I head into my profession in the future.

4. The transformation that occurred during the course of my Signature Project is valuable to my professional life for a variety of reasons. For one, it proved to myself that I can survive and thrive in a business setting. By learning these skills, I will be able to transfer them to my future jobs. The experience of working with other highly trained professionals on a daily basis also sharpened my accounting knowledge and allowed me to build connections for the future. I was able to see the differences between how accounting is taught in the classroom and how it is applied to real life scenarios. My experience can only serve me as a benefit for my future career.I