For my STEP Signature Project I participated in the Glenn College’s Washington Academic Internship Program. As part of this program I had the opportunity to live, work, and learn in Washington D.C. for 12 weeks over the summer. I interned for the federal relations firm Alignment Government Strategies which represents many central Ohio businesses and non-profits in DC. I completed my senior capstone policy research paper as part of 12 credit hours of Public Affairs classes. Additionally, we were able to live just a 5 minute walk from the Capitol Building, and took weekly tours to sites in the city such as the White House, Capitol Building, and State Department.

This opportunity helped me to truly grow as a professional. I was placed in a fast-paced and intense environment that forced me to learn and grow every day. I was presented with the opportunity to learn about new policy areas that have helped give me clarity as to what I would like to pursue in my future career. I was able to get a clear vision of what I would like my future to hold, and I feel fairly certain that I would like to end up back in DC at some point in my career. My most transformational experiences were interacting with career professionals in a working environment. I was able to learn from many great mentors who helped guide me through the craziness of Washington and give me advice to advance my career. I feel confident that following graduation I would like to work on a 2020 Democratic Presidential campaign and then attend law school soon after. I would like to leverage a winning campaign to gain a job in the Administration or on Capitol Hill for 1-3 years, but I would be more than happy to go to law school soon after a campaign ends.

Following my experience in Washington this summer, I feel like a true young professional. My experience was incredibly impactful and it translated into a year-long fellowship with the Columbus Partnership–a client of my firm this summer–which I am currently working this school year. I have seen my professional skills increase drastically and they are currently paying off in both my academic life and my current position with the Columbus Partnership. I am tremendously grateful to STEP and the Glenn College for making this incredible growing experience possible.

Embedded in the post are two photos of me in DC. The first is at an event my internship had at the White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and the second is outside of the United States Capitol Building following a meeting with an OSU alum this summer.

This summer, I interned for Northrop Grumman in Baltimore, Maryland. I worked in an antenna range and spent most of my time writing software supporting the automation of antenna ranges.

Coming into this internship I had virtually no interest in working for a defense contractor, but my time at Northrop Grumman changed that. I had always wanted to work in the automotive engineering field and never imagined that I would feel fulfilled working on military systems. I had dreamed of designing electric or hybrid powertrains; most other things sounded lackluster to me. Working on software development in an antenna range at Northrop Grumman was more challenging and enjoyable than I had expected by a wide margin. I also got to experience living in Baltimore for three months, which helped me decide where I want to live once I graduate.

I had always thought that I would take the highest paying job I was offered after my graduation, but living in Baltimore made me rethink this philosophy. While I thoroughly enjoyed working for Northrop Grumman, I really did not like living in Baltimore. After spending a summer on the east coast, I am fairly certain that I do not want to end up living and working anywhere along the Atlantic Ocean (at least north of Virginia). Now, I only plan on pursuing jobs either in Columbus or in a western state.

Working in an antenna range was my first exposure to working with radio-frequency systems. During my first week I was told that production would have an antenna for us to test within two weeks, which meant that I would get hands on experience working on antenna testing. Unfortunately, the antenna never came. Even though we never got an antenna to test during my time in the range, I still learned the ins and outs of how antenna test data is gathered. While waiting for an antenna to test, the senior engineer in the range had me help develop software to automate both the gathering and processing of antenna data.

My first few weeks were spent getting familiar with the automation project. I only worked with two other people in the range, a recent OSU graduate and a senior engineer; they both helped make my transition onto the project easy. The software was written in C# which I had never worked with before, but the senior engineer had written most of the libraries used in the project so getting help was always fast and easy. I was tasked with implementing a couple of different data processing tools and improving the functionality of one of the user interfaces. I thoroughly enjoyed working on software and I would like to keep working on software, whether in my career or just in my free time.

Living in Baltimore was the least enjoyable part of my summer. Baltimore is not a terrible city, but it is certainly not for me. I found the city planning to be frustrating, the local government to be inept, and the weather to be too wet. I did still have fun in Baltimore, but I realized that I do not want to move there after my graduation.

Coincidentally, I knew the OSU graduate that I worked with from his time in college, so he showed me around the city and invited me to activities that he and his friends participated in. I played volleyball almost every Saturday and Sunday with my coworker and new friends, as well as engaged in the occasional footgolf game or restaurant trip. Being able to experience what life is going to be like after graduation for a summer really helped ease some anxiety I felt about life after graduation.

Overall, the summer I spent in Baltimore was invaluable to me in both a personal and professional sense. I was able to experience a new city and rule out moving there after school, which saves me time, money, and stress since I now know that I would not enjoy taking a position in Baltimore. I also got to make many new friends through my internship whom I still talk to regularly. Actually working with software was an eye-opener for me, as I didn’t consider working in software at all coming into this summer but would now happily take a job related to software development. I also gained a fair amount of knowledge on antenna theory (which has already helped me in some of my classes this semester) and several good professional connections within Northrop Grumman. While I am not going to pursue a position at the Baltimore location of Northrop Grumman, I may try to work at the Beavercreek, Ohio or Denver, Colorado locations after graduation. Without STEP, I wouldn’t have been able to gain this unique set of experiences and relationships that are indispensable to my development both socially and professionally as I prepare for the workforce.

My Coworker John and I at a Polish Festival in downtown Baltimore (Northrop Grumman does not allow pictures to be taken on company property)

STEP Post-Project Reflection

Internship at The Calvetta Brothers Floor Show

Maria Neville

My STEP signature project was at the Calvetta Brothers Floor Show in Bedford, Ohio. I was hired as a marketing intern, and worked with the Floor Show’s marketing team, on building partnerships with the Cleveland APL, as well as Howard Hanna. I also helped with more day to day tasks such as meeting with contractors in order to repair their new warehouse, assisting on film days for commercials, and meeting with their advertising company in order to get projects done.

This was one of the first times where I was left with a great deal of responsibility, between handling big purchases and working with outside companies, I felt very responsible. I was in charge of finding the right contractor, or company to install and repair new windows, doors, and paint in the new warehouse, and in such a large warehouse, these were upwards of 50,000-100,000 dollar jobs. I also realized that the business world doesn’t have to be so scary—when working with other companies, I got to know people on a personal level that allowed for easy and stress free communication between myself and these other companies. I went in to this experience very nervous about what sort of situations I may be placed in, and by just trusting myself and my abilities, it allowed for the whole experience to be more enjoyable. Having confidence in your abilities makes going in to work every day a much more pleasant experience.

One of the events that occurred was the Floor Show purchased an old, run down warehouse that needed a lot of repairs in order to be functional. A task that I was assigned, that was really nerve racking for me at first, was to contact contractors, painters, janitors and so on to help fix up the warehouse. I would meet with multiple contractors a day sometimes, giving them tours of the warehouse, having them price out estimates for me, checking their review and making sure they’re reliable, and at the end of it all, I may have spent upwards of 200,000 dollars, between new paint all over. New windows, new garage doors and man doors, refinishing of the cement floors and parking lot, tearing down walls etc. Austin, my supervisor and owner of the Floor show, trusted me to make these decisions and to find the best deal and best guy for the job. I have never been trusted with so much financial responsibility and after seeing the results of the warehouse, and how happy Austin was with the job, I finally learned to trust my abilities when it comes to making important decisions.

Another event I took place in was establishing a partnership with many different Howard Hanna offices.  I reached out to the managers of these offices, and set up times and slots for Floor Show sales people to come and speak at these meetings, getting coffee and donuts for them to bring to these meetings, and in the end establishing a partnership, where we mention them for business, and they mention us, when the situation applies. This was something that was really important to Austin that he wanted me to do this summer, so when I finally saw it all work out and work out better than intended (originally we were just mentioning it to them at the meetings, but they reached out and asked if we’d be willing to partner up), and that he was very appreciate of me, It showed that I really could do a lot as long as I remained professional, and actually saw myself as an adult who is capable of working in the real world!

Another thing I was responsible for was creating a customer experience survey. The Calvetta’s value their reputation and quality of work very highly, which is why Austin gave me this task this summer. They always put emphasis on how they treat their customers, and tell their employees the level of respect they should give people when going in their homes, and they always drill in to everyone how important that is, but they realized they hadn’t actually been following up with customers, unless they had a reason to (complaint of some sort, price issues). So I created a survey that I sent to all customers in the past 2 years, and that was supposed to go to everyone 1 month after their project was completed. I got so many responses, some complaining or praising certain installers, some about certain sales people, some about the product in general. The results were very helpful and the response rate was also high, so with my results I put together a report of my survey, and Austin was so appreciative and shocked sometimes at the findings, and was able to use the info from my survey to make some really helpful changes at the Floor Show. This allowed me to really see my full ability and to feel useful. I was able to see the difference I made first hand at a company, and to see my work so appreciated was a great feeling.

My professional goals are to work in marketing and the business world. I would love to work for a big company, in a big city, doing hard, creative work. In order to do that, I can’t let my doubts in myself hold me back, or else I probably won’t be able to achieve my goals. This summer at my internship showed me my true potential, and gave me the confidence to trust my own work and to not nit-pick every little detail as much. I think I now have the confidence to push myself towards my professional goals, while also probably helping my personal and everyday life too. I feel like this comes with becoming a self-sufficient adult. You can’t be worried about everything and doubt everything in work and life, otherwise you won’t be able to accomplish anything.

Behind the scenes at a commercial!

Photo I took for a blog post

My STEP project this summer entailed an internship at WOSU in Columbus, Ohio from May to August. I worked on daily production of the show, as well as producing content of my own for the show.

My understanding of myself changed greatly through the course of this experience. I have never really had to apply myself to do well when it came to school, I was always naturally smart and skated by easily. This lax approach to work changed immediately once I was the only person in charge of certain tasks at my internship. It was difficult for me to make that change and have people relying on me every day to get things done, especially when I felt I didn’t know exactly what was being asked of me. I am not a person of routine or consistency, but this internship challenged me to be what I am not on a daily basis.

While I am still unsure what kind of authoritative approach motivates me to do my best work, I do know that if I am in an environment I find enjoyable, I want to get my work done. However, I am unsure if independent work is the best fit for me. Additionally, my assumptions of how much I can take post-graduation have changed drastically. I know many people work several jobs to pay rent and get by, however, I found I need to have a good work-life balance in order to stay motivated and focused.

The experience that challenged my assumptions of how hard I can work myself was due to working at a bar till 4 a.m. several nights a week, as well as every weekend, and then going to my internship at 9 a.m. This burning-the-candle-at-both-ends proved to only hurt my performance at my internship. As for the kind of work environment I would like to work in, I found myself enjoying my job outside of my internship much more. News can be very stressful, with crazy deadlines that make everyone in the work place high strung. But what I found is that you either live for the stress or let it eat you alive. Many news production teams are understaffed, due to the changing media landscape that has caused news budgets to take a hit, which often leads to stressful situations that could be improved with more professional help. I like the stress of news but fear I would burn out in the industry quickly.

I appreciate how my bosses treated the internship as a learning experience and wanted the interns to get as much out of it as possible. We were pushed to pitch story ideas every week for the show and would have a discussion as to how to shape the story so it could work for the show or why that story wouldn’t work for the show. I really feel like I learned a lot about news and what it takes to run a show. In that sense, a collaborative and thoughtful work place sounds the most ideal for me. While I am self-motivated it is to a point, I still need that authoritative push to stay on track and get things done. It may be because I am new to the field and feel like my work isn’t as good or appreciated, therefore, I need that reassurance that my work makes a difference. Or it may be that I work better in groups and need that sense of teamwork to keep me on track. This is something I have made note of to look for in my future work.

I cannot say that my daily tasks and daily routine have made a lasting impact into who I am as a worker. I can say that those tasks made me realize I like learning how to do things and do them well for a company. However, I need to be challenged. Once I feel I’ve mastered a task, I need to move on to something else, otherwise I get bored and start to resent the work I have to get done. The daily tasks at my internship started to feel a bit like Groundhog Day, for lack of a better analogy. I am a bit concerned that there is no job out there that I would not get bored of, but I am also willing to admit that many internships aren’t exactly challenging work due to the limited time frame companies get to train you and that they aren’t always a true reflection of the work field.

The reporters that worked for WOSU were very helpful in giving insight into what the field is like. I got to talk with a reporter about her former experience working for TV news which I found very enlightening and useful. She explained it was a lot like the radio show in that it is high strung and taxing on the mind, body, and soul. I went into journalism because I am a naturally curious person and love talking to people, but I have found that it can be very lonely as you’re only talking to people that are new to you for a short amount of time until you’re forced to move on and do the next story. It feels impersonal, though it is a very personal line of work. News is in my blood and is very much a part of my identity, but it isn’t matching well with the rest of my identity. I am hoping that I can find a way to combine who I am with news in a better way so I don’t feel like my work is a never-ending broken thread of brief, forgotten connections.

This change is significant because it has challenged everything I thought I knew I liked and wanted in this field. Going forward academically, I will try to see my work as a challenge, which won’t be difficult when it comes to my capstone project. I will try to connect with as many people as possible before I graduate to see what kind of path options are available for me in journalism and outside of journalism. I feel that I have something to add to a company and that I can excel well wherever, but it won’t be long lasting unless I feel it is the right fit for me and the company. I want to make sure I don’t settle for just any job because of the societal pressure to graduate and have one. I don’t want to be jobless but I also don’t want to burn bridges at a job I don’t enjoy because I thought I should take the job to have one. I don’t have a concrete plan right now but the only way to create a plan is to do research and find out what is out there so I can become inspired and have a goal of what I want to do once I graduate. This isn’t the best timing to realize I don’t like the majority of what I know major has to offer me, but I am always in the pursuit of happiness and am sure that whatever I end up doing I will be or will make sure I am happy.

Here’s a picture of my fellow intern, Joe Matts, at the Ohio State Fair where we did a live broadcast of our show for the public.

 My STEP Signature Project was a 12-week long internship with Amazon Web Services based at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington. During this tenure, I was a Product Marketing Manager intern and was tasked with managing the overall execution of two digital marketing campaigns. This included defining the channel strategy recommendations, key performance metrics, and corresponding with both product marketing managers and external agencies to ensure the campaign was on track to launch by the set date.

This internship served as a trial run for what is to come post-graduation. This was the first time I was in a new city, living with a roommate, and going to work every day from 8-5. In 12 weeks, I began to shift from this college-student with little experience operating in the real world, to a fully-functioning adult. I developed an internship budget spreadsheet in Excel to help manage my finances during the summer and also make sure I was on track to hitting my savings goals. This required me to allot a certain amount of money to food each week and entertainment/ fun activities. I also developed a strict morning routine to maximize my time each week.

Professionally, my project this summer stretched me helped me unleash all of my potential. As an intern, I was given so much responsibility and was in charge of million-dollar campaigns, and although I doubted myself at times, I was able to rise to the occasion and successfully complete my projects and deliver results.

My roommate for the summer was a great support system for me. We leaned on each other for work and play and held each other accountable. She was aware that I was trying to meet a certain saving goal, and always warned me of my goals when we were eating out to make sure that I was making smart decisions. We also explored the city together. We both are from Ohio and have never spent time in the Pacific Northwest–having her by my side made it easier to venture out in the city and make friends.

My manager played a pivotal role in my professional development over the summer. I learned that impostor syndrome is a real feeling, and while I was trying to get ahead of the learning curve, I often felt like I didn’t belong at Amazon–just because I felt like I wasn’t smart enough. We had weekly 1:1s to discuss my progress, challenges, and thoughts about my experience thus far. Not only was my manager trying to make sure I was able to deliver results, but he took the time to make sure I was networking within the organization and also outside and onto the retail side. He cared about my development and not just about my main project deliverables.

My mentor for the summer was a Sr. Digital Marketing Manager on the Artificial Intelligence team. We met weekly for an hour to discuss my internship experience thus far. She was someone I could be vulnerable with and also my go-to resource for any obstacles that I need help overcoming with my project. When I expressed to her that I wasn’t super confident in the beginning, she reassured me and gave me tips on how to overcome this fear and make sure I excel in my internship. 

This project was pivotal to my overall personal and professional development. I never had a major internship at a large company, and so I needed to learn how to navigate myself in a professional setting and also prove to myself that I am a natural-born marketer and can do anything I put my mind to. This Step Signature Project allowed me to transform into the person I’ve always imagined myself to be.

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three
sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.

For my STEP project, I did a summer internship. I worked at Safelite Autoglass, and I managed our social media, such as Facebook, instagram and twitter. I also worked with digital marketing like ads, Hulu commercials, and Search engine Marketing.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the
world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or
two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.

Before starting this project, I was nervous. I had never worked in a big office before and it was nerve racking at first. However, over the course of the internship I gained a new sense of confidence. I learned so much about marketing, and now I have more faith in my skills. I also feel more well equipped to start the job search. I know I am smart and capable, and a lot of that came from interning.

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature
Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those
affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences
completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.

I got an amazing chance to work with one of the smartest groups of people this summer. Everyone at Safelite welcomed me with open arms. I was invited to happy hours, work dinners and even events. About halfway through the experience, our whole department went to Kings Island and volunteered with A Kid Again, a group that gives sick kids the chance to have a normal, fun day. This was a huge team building exercise, and was honestly so much fun. I was so grateful to be invited along.

I also did a few weeks of onboarding, which is when you get to meet with people from all different places in the company. I met with Analysts, product owners, copy writers and even the VP of Digital. Getting to talk to these people, both about work experiences and their lives really opened me up to new experiences.

Finally, I got the chance to work with another intern at Safelite. She also goes to OSU and we really bonded through the whole experience. It was really great to have another college student with me every step of the way. Her and I have continued our friendship, and may even live together next year.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or
two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your
academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.

This change was very important to me. First of all, I learned a lot academically. The past few weeks in classes, I have felt ahead of the curve for one of the first times in my college career. I know things we are just now learning because of this internship. I got the chance to learn a whole new language, the language of digital marketing. I also got to work closely with analysts, and have a better understanding of how companies monitor digital trends.

Beyond just learning, I felt a change in myself. I took everything that came my way in stride, and I feel more confident in my skills now. I know I can do what needs done, when it needs done. I am very grateful for this experience, especially since I want to go into digital marketing as a future career.

My STEP Signature Project was an internship with the Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden, which is a Columbus area community garden located in a food desert that works to provide locally and sustainably grown, fresh, organic produce to the surrounding community. My main project during my internship was designing a pilot youth summer day camp with a focus on implementing STEM-to-STEAM education in the garden.

My internship helped to clarify my future career goals. When searching for an internship, I was specifically interested in nonprofit organizations because I plan to work with nonprofits post-graduation. Outside of volunteering, I previously had no practical experience with nonprofit organizations so I wanted to enhance my understanding and experience with managerial/operational aspects of the nonprofit sector. I also wanted to gain a better understanding of potential entry-level jobs that are available and define my personal preferences for when I start my job search.

While I interned with the garden I also took a class to receive academic credit for the work I was doing. In the class, one of the assignments was to conduct an informational interview with someone outside of your organization. I ended up interviewing an executive director from a nonprofit that employs a more formalized structure than the garden does. This was an invaluable and extremely informative opportunity to ask questions related to the day-to-day operation of a nonprofit and the types of job descriptions their employees have.

In addition to the relationship I formed with my interviewee, the relationship I developed with my supervisor (who is also the founder of the garden) was incredibly formative. Thanks to her extremely diverse experiences, she was able to provide both personal and professional advice. Since the conclusion of my internship I have continued to work with the garden and have a mentor in my supervisor.

Perhaps the most influential aspect of my internship on my growth was the ability to participate in program design and implementation. The process of program design is incredibly unique, especially when designing a program from scratch. Though the number of decisions we had to make was somewhat overwhelming, it was fun to have such a high degree of control over what we did and how we did it. Because the camp was a pilot, as we ran the program we found ourselves adapting to problems that arose in the moment and took advantage of our ability to change things as we went. Overall, I immensely enjoyed the experience of designing and implementing a program and am interested in working in those areas in the future.

My transformation was valuable in my life because it directly relates to my career path and gave me a greater understanding of the area in which I want to work. Before my internship, all I knew was that I wanted to work with nonprofits. Thanks to my experience I now know that I’m interested in being involved with program design and different types of hands-on tasks such as implementation. Overall, my internship helped to solidify my career aspirations and provided assurance that I will enjoy working with nonprofits.

My STEP project consisted of an internship with The Ohio State Alumni Magazine. As an intern, I had the opportunity to write and research stories, conduct interviews, attend and contribute to meetings and assist with other work around the office. I also got to know other employees and was able to build a valuable network.

Because of this experience, I think I went through a significant transformation as a professional. I feel much more equipped to enter any workplace, work alongside others and be a part of a team in the workplace. I feel that I developed more confidence in myself and my abilities and now have a better idea of what I might like to do. I also improved more concrete skills like writing and content management. While I expected that I might be doing a fair amount of busy work as an intern, this was not the case at the Alumni Magazine. I felt like an important part of the team and learned a lot from my work. 

This internship taught me to me much more adaptable. The Alumni Magazine is housed under University Marketing and works in brand journalism rather than straight news. In the past I have only had experience with traditional news writing. Because of this experience, I have gained another valuable skill and have learned an additional style of writing. Not only does this make me more versatile, it also gives me the confidence to know I can adapt to new styles no matter what environment I’m thrown into. 

Perhaps one of the most crucial elements to my transformation were the relationships I built with other employees. By getting to know the people around me, their stories and their backgrounds, I feel that I now have a new outlook on the opportunities I will have in my career and in life. It was interesting to hear so many different perspectives and take the time to get know the talented and supportive people that I worked with. My conversations with other employees not only provide a better network, but they also left me with thought provoking advice that I will carry with me through the rest of my career.

Throughout my duties as intern and working on various stories I got to speak with and interview people from all different backgrounds — one of my favorite things about journalism. For example, for one story, I got to speak with experts on climate change. For a more immersive story, I got to drop in a FYE program that takes first year students to camp, horseback ride and zipline in Hocking Hills before the start of their first year. This internship showed me that you don’t have to work for a newspaper to have these types of experiences. Rather, there are an infinite number of opportunities and career paths to achieve this. 

All of these transformations are crucial to my development as a journalist. As a journalism major, I have been building these skills throughout my academic career, but after using them outside of the classroom and alongside other professionals, I feel a sense of accomplishment and excitement to start my own career. While I don’t know exactly where my next job will take me, I feel that I will be prepared and ready to take on whatever it throws at me.

I talk with students before conducting interviews at the First Year Experience FYE Wilderness Welcome Horseback riding |
Ohio State Alumni Magazine | Photo by Jo McCulty | The Ohio State University

I went along for the ride at the First Year Experience FYE Wilderness Welcome Horseback riding |Ohio State Alumni Magazine | Photo by Jo McCulty | The Ohio State University

My STEP Signature Project was an undergraduate research project in the College of Public Health. I worked on a biostatistics project focusing on the transmission dynamics of Mumps in the United States.

At the beginning of the project, I was not really sure what to expect.  I did not have any previous experience working in a lab setting.  I had no solid experience applying the steps of the scientific method to a real-world, cutting-edge example.  In addition, I had only a basic understanding of biostatistics, disease modeling, and R programming software.  Throughout the project, I was able to better understand how to construct and implement a research project from beginning question to publication of results.

The changes in my understanding of myself and the world of research came from the experiences and the relationship I built with the professor I worked with over the summer.  Dr. Laura Pomeroy is an assistant professor of environmental public health in the College of Public Health.  She is an expert in the areas of infectious disease transmission and control. The opportunity to work with her was an incredible experience and relationship to build.  I would not have learned so much about the topic without her vast knowledge and support.

Another source of personal transformation came from learning how to use R programming software.  While I had previously been introduced to the software in a statistics course, I was very much a novice at the beginning of the summer.  I used R throughout the project for data collection, cleaning, analyzing, and modeling.  There were numerous times throughout the project where I had to problem-solve with R and although it was challenging, I was able to preserver and teach myself the language. I am now very comfortable with using R software, which I would not be without this project.

The transformation I experienced during my STEP project is valuable in my life because I was able to further confirm my interest in scientific research.  I was also able to make valuable, lasting personal relationships with a professor and other student researchers.  These relationships helped me grow during the project personally and professionally. They also helped expand my professional network for the future.  Learning R was also immensely transformative because it is a very in-demand skill that employers value.  Overall, the research I did over the summer profoundly changed my academic, personal, and profession outlook.

For my STEP signature project I did an internship with The Lincoln Electric Company in Cleveland, Ohio. I worked as an intern in the Corporate Environmental, Health, Safety group and my projects involved me working side by side with other engineers to complete our tasks. My main projects included creating Lockout tagout procedures and tags for new equipment, perform a qualitative and quantitative industrial hygiene assessment in two plant departments, and other various tasks.

Going into my experience, I thought I enjoyed doing desk work and being able to just sit down and grind out a lot of work. After about a month of doing this type of work all day, I realized how much I enjoyed going out on the plant floor, interacting with a wide variety of people, and getting to be hands on with the things I’m working on. I had a couple opportunities to tour different departments to learn other places I could be useful to the company and while on these tours I noticed how much happier I was out from behind my desk. Knowing this information will help with my future job search as now I have insight to what type of specific role I would like to be in as opposed to being unsure of the work environment I would like to be in.

Another assumption I had about the world was in a cubicle workplace, I assumed everyone sat in silence, did their individual work, and went home at the end of their day with little coworker interaction. After going through my internship program, I realized that company culture and the interactions and relationships you make while at work are just as important to your happiness as the work you’re actually doing. I learned so much over the summer about different cultures and ways of life as a number of the people I worked with were from other countries. The relationships I built with my coworkers and gaining a broader knowledge and understanding of the world was not something I expected to learn going into my internship, but I am so thankful for having the opportunity to do so.

Lincoln Electric prides itself in creating an inclusive environment and encouraging its employees to be active participants in the community. The first instance of this is the number of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) I was able to be involved with during my rotation. They have groups for young professionals, women, Hispanics, and many more. The company also has funds set aside to pay for employees to do things like 5k runs, fundraising events, and even city wide corporate challenges. By participating in such a wide range of events and opportunities sponsored by Lincoln Electric, I met and interacted with so many people I wouldn’t normally and also was able to experience a wide range of culture through the entire city of Cleveland.

Finally, the large group of interns at my location made a huge difference in my overall experience and transformation as a result of experience. Since I worked at the world headquarters, there was the highest concentration of interns in the Cleveland plant as compared to other location around the US. I loved being able to learn and grow from other interns my age, both professionally and socially. These are the people at the company going through exactly the same experiences I am and it was so relieving have a strong support group in my journey to self-discover and figuring out what I might want to do for the rest of my life.

All the changes and transforms that happened over the course of my STEP signature project will help me to guide my life and make educated decisions on what career path I would like to take after graduation. There were certain things a company can offer, like ERGs, that I didn’t know existed prior to starting my internship, but I learned are something I want to look for in other companies. My internship also taught me I would prefer to live near a larger city so I can have the opportunity to immerse myself in its culture and give back in what ways I can. The technical skills I learned as a result of projects I worked on will also follow me and will allow me to hit the ground running at my next position.