STEP Post-Project Reflection

1.My STEP Signature Project consisted of me working as a Marketing intern in Columbus during the summer. My STEP funds allowed me to live in Columbus where I was able to gain significant and meaningful experiences by working in a field, I am passionate about. My main job functions centered around event planning, email marketing and social media content creation.

2. My STEP project really helped me gain a more comprehensive understanding on my strengths and shed light onto the type of career I want after graduation. Before the summer, I had a vague knowledge that I wanted to do something related to marketing however, I had not had any “real world” exposure to working in a professional setting and didn’t have a deep understanding of any career paths. I had unknowingly limited what I thought I could do with my degree. By working at Envisage Wealth this summer, I learned about a field that I hadn’t really known anything about previously. My assumptions about the marketing field changed drastically as I learned how cross-functional and flexible the field is.

I was personally transformed through this project in that I developed numerous life long skills. Organization has always been something I struggled with. A main role of my job was to keep many different projects organized and on time. In addition to my job I was living in Columbus for the summer, in a different part of the country then the rest of my family and for the first time in my life, I was completely responsible for all of my living expenses. Initially, I was overwhelmed and discouraged because I didn’t think I chose the correct job field. As the summer went on though my organization skills evolved and I grew in my independence. My money management skills have grown and I am not as intimidated as I once was at the thought of graduating and starting an independent adult life.

3. At the end of my first month of interning I really saw my development of organizational skills grow the most. I was becoming increasingly stressed at work as we had many projects and events going on in a short amount of time. It got to the day of one of the events and I realized I had overlooked a detail in the planning related to the setup of the event. I spent the whole day problem solving and racing around town trying to make up for my oversight. I was able to get everything organized and settled before the event; much to my and my supervisor’s relief.

The stress of that day and surrounding the entire event really put in perspective for me how crucial it is to be organized and detail-oriented. Going forward from that day I made a conscious effort with all of my projects to cover all my bases and double check everything before it is final.

During the school year, I am fortunate enough that my parents cover the majority of my living expenses. It was discussed though that I would become completely financially independent for the duration of the summer. Me and my parents had a lengthy discussion about the importance of learning financial independence and how once I graduate, I will be responsible for so much more then I am now and it is important that I have experience with managing my finances.

This interaction was the starting point for myself on becoming independent and more grown-up. Knowing I had to pay for my rent, utilities, food and gas limited myself in how I frivolously spent money. I spent time budgeting my money and set limits for myself with how much money I could spend eating out and doing other social activities that I normally wouldn’t really care about how much I spend at.

4.

College Liftoff, an event I was a part of planning on August 8th

All of the growth and skills I have developed this summer will be beneficial for me for the rest of my life. Without my STEP project I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to branch out of my comfort zone and evolve professionally and personally in such a limited amount of time. Sometimes with my school work it is hard for me to see the relevance of what I am learning but through working and living on my own the relevancy of what I was doing was so apparent. Organization, independence and money management are all things I have struggled with. I can confidently say I have developed in all three of these areas and because of that, I am more confidant that when I graduate in May, I will be more successful.