During my consulting internship in Singapore, I was challenged by working with a team to improve the efficiency of the transportation of Greif’s steel drums. My task was to redesign the warehouse of over 20,000 drums into a more efficient method. During this project I worked closely with my team of Ohio State students, as well as the employees at Greif’s plant in Singapore.

During my internship experience in Singapore, I was exposed to a variety of Asian cultures, inside and outside of the workplace. Inside the workplace I was challenged with language barriers and cultural differences. Some of these differences were the authority leadership style that occurred. This was very important when we had questions for employees. Another challenge was the language barrier. This was a hard obstacle to overcome, however, I realized that it never hurt to ask them to clarify or explain further. I assumed that they would be offended or annoyed, but once I formed a strong relationship with them, they were always willing to help.

Outside of the workplace I was exposed to several countries and cultures. These countries included, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Each country amazed me with their unique traditions, food, and of course, people. I was timid that I would be viewed as an annoying American, however, everyone was extremely welcoming and respectful. My greatest experience was in Vietnam where I got to learn about the Vietnam War from their perspective. Overall, I got to see a whole different side of the world and the amazing people that walk this Earth.

While working at Greif, I was able to connect with a lot of amazing Singaporeans and Malaysians. Johnny was our direct boss during our time in Singapore. At first, we struggled with the language barrier and cultural differences, but once we got to know him better, we realized how amazing he is. Johnny put so much effort and time into helping our projects. He made sure we were comfortable and safe during our time at the plant. He also brought in different managers from various departments to present to us about what they do for the business. Above all this, Johnny made sure we experienced Singapore. He took us out to dinner, bowling, the zoo, and so many more. He was vital to our success inside and out of the workplace. As a group, we are still in contact with him today because of the positive impact he had on our experience.

Another great experience was during our trip to Malaysia. During this trip we had the weekend to explore Kuala Lumpur. We got to see Batu Caves, which is a Hindu temple inside a mountain. This experience was incredibly eye-opening and will impact me for the rest of my life. We traveled with Jenny who helped plan our logistics. She was so helpful and incredible to learn from. She is very well traveled and challenged us to think differently. She helped us immerse into the Malaysian culture by meeting locals and trying local cuisine. After the amazing weekend, we traveled outside the city to see another Greif plant. During our time at the Malaysia plant, we got to compare two of Grief’s operations and see which is more efficient. After understanding the layout of the warehouse, I actually ended up suggesting to Singapore Grief to adapt some of Malaysia’s practices and organization. They agreed with me and began testing some of the changes.

The third memorable experience during my trip was my trip to Bali, Indonesia. During this trip we stayed at an AirBnb which made us feel like we were part of their culture. The host was extremely helpful and resourceful for navigating the cities. We got to explore islands with beautiful scenery and unique animals. On the island of Nusa Penida, I got to see my first wild monkey which was incredible. Our guide was a local, who took us to amazing restaurants. We also got to explore amazing beaches and meet amazing travelers who were like us. I even saw an old friend from my town in Granville, which made the world seem a little smaller.

I have found that the more I travel, the better human I become. I have been fortunate enough to visit five continents and have become a better man because of each. I am challenged to change, both mentally and physically, to my surroundings. I have a much greater respect for different parts of the world and the various perspectives that come with. Looking back on my six weeks abroad, I am beyond thankful for my childhood, family, and the amazing world we live in.

1. For my STEP Signature Project, I had the opportunity to work for the American Chamber of Commerce in Auckland, New Zealand for the month of May 2019. I took part in the Fisher Global Project with a few other students, and together we had the opportunity to produce a report on New Zealand tax incentives and foreign direct investments.
2. While completing my STEP Signature Project, many of my views on the world changed. For my Global Project, we had to discuss trade regulations, along with business structure to better understand the differences between our economies. Thinking about trade from a global perspective, rather than from the United States challenged by beliefs. Instead, this trip helped me realize that we must emphasize global trade and think about the impacts this trade will have on a larger scale than just America. I was able to see how different the needs of smaller economies are compared to those of the United States. In addition, I was able to learn how New Zealand’s professional tendencies may be different than ours. I discovered that the work-life balance was one of the top priorities for many companies in Auckland. This helped me realize that I should always be cognizant of how to efficiently complete my tasks, while remembering to still have fun. While working in New Zealand, I felt right at home. This was due to the friendly nature of Kiwis; however they have also taken many steps in Corporate Social Responsibility that I believe are important to enact in the States as well. For example, many companies are very cognizant of their work culture, and in addition, their global footprint, and what they do with their money. Witnessing all of this while in New Zealand helped me change my view and expectations of corporate settings all over the world.
3. While working for the American Chamber of Commerce, we had the opportunity to meet with many different CEO’s, CFO’s, and general managers. This allowed us to speak to them in regard to our project and create a report for the AmCham board. While speaking with each CEO, they seemed uninterested in turning as much of a profit as they could. Instead, they valued each customer, and didn’t want to create a conflict. They knew how much power they had in their economy, and actively sought to use this for better. To me, this quality was very impressive, and I began to notice how different this was from the rest of the world. One day, while meeting with the Auckland Tourism, Events, and Economic Development CFO, I had my most memorable meeting. We learned that when companies approach him with proposals to begin operations in Auckland, he actually will sometimes decline the opportunity. Even though he is potentially losing money, he will do it at the cost of ethical behavior.

In addition, the willingness of my boss to introduce me to some of his most valuable contacts was just one of the many instances I noticed of transparency. I was impressed to notice that this was not uncommon. In fact, my boss noted many times that New Zealand is ranked first globally in transparent business. In addition, it was very common for CEO’s to answer directly to my emails, and I notice that business formalities weren’t as strict, and small talk was encouraged in meetings. Altogether, my experiences while abroad impressed me, and I was excited to bring a piece of it home when I got back to America. This behavior causes a much more harmonious economy, government, and lifestyle. Conflict between companies, political parties, and coworkers is much less common due to the amplified sense of respect they carry. Even in a much larger economy, I believe that America has much room to grow with that regard.

Even in another setting, I got to witness how New Zealand values its integrity. For example, with sustainability. By 2040, New Zealand has plans to use only renewable energy. This is may seem like a large claim, however they are already 70% completed. It was intriguing to see how much land they preserve and cherish, and how they will not allow this to change, even for a growing population. To Kiwis, no business transaction or action is worth jeopardizing their clean air, green landscapes, and efficient business environment. This greatly affected me because it taught me that sometimes, being in a high stress environment doesn’t equal an efficient one. If people had the ability to look at a bigger picture, there would be endless positive effects for us as people, workers, and citizens. Overall, this was one of the most important learning experiences, and internship that I’ve had. Since coming home, I have felt transformed in many different ways.

4. This transformation was valuable for me in many different aspects. In one regard, I was able to think different in a business setting. However, I also felt that as a consumer I was also affected. This mindset was very helpful to develop before I ventured into my professional career, because it taught me that not every situation must be high-stress. Sometimes, it can be beneficial to go at your own pace, and simply do the best you can. In addition, I learned that integrity and developing solutions is extremely important in almost every setting. Though this is a concept I had always understood, it was transformational to see these ideas in action, and not only spoken about. Furthermore, this experience helped me develop ideas about how we should improve our economic practices in America. In order to run the most efficient market, we must equally understand everyone’s ideas, and not prioritize making a profit first. As a consumer, I learned to become more conscious. Altogether, I learned some of the most valuable lessons in New Zealand over the course of the month and am proud to be back to share my experiences. In the future, I hope to continue to apply these principles, and help create a conversation about what we can do together to create change.

During my STEP Signature Project, I went to Ottawa, Canada to intern under a Member of Parliament — John Aldag from the Liberal Party, and work within his office. Under his staff members, I was able to conduct research on current and past policies, write speeches, create pamphlets, and respond to constituents.

Throughout my STEP project, my understanding of myself and foreign governments changed completely. For the past two years, I was thinking of going into governmental work, such as being a staff member to a congressman or senator, however, after this program, I know that this career path would not suit me. Behind the scenes work, while essential, is not the kind of work that interests me. While researching policies, I found myself wanting to have a certain input on fixing them, rather than agreeing with them because the party agrees with them. I never thought myself one that would want to be involved directly in policies, however, after being unable to have any voice on certain issues my eyes were opened to new career paths that I could possibly take towards working with and possibly changing policies.

This project gave me an insight into the inner-workings of a government. By working under a Canadian politician, you must take into account not only what your constituents want but also what your party demands of you. Which seems very similar to American politics, however, the power of the party is much greater. It does not matter your own particular opinions on a subject, if the Prime Minister decides on a particular decision, as a member of that party, you must follow him. The Prime Minister dictates the liberal party’s every movement and the major stances they take on any policy. This kind of power is something we do not see in America and shows how our idea of democracy is slightly different than other countries.

For the personal aspect, being apart of my Member of Parliament’s staff showed me how much behind the scenes work that goes into being a staff member. While it was surprising to see all the work that goes into a single paper/speech/event that a member of government holds, I found the whole process to be something I would not enjoy doing for the rest of my life. The experience was invaluable and I was given many wonderful experiences that I will carry with me, however, the work itself was not enough for me. There were periods where there was absolutely nothing to do and then the next minute we were swarmed with work. In addition, a lot of my work was simply compiling information for a certain topic that my Member of Parliament was interested or to answer a question that a constituent wanted to be answered. While sometimes the topics were intriguing, there were times where when answering constituent mail, I was completely disinterested. This led me to change my mind on the type of career I wished to pursue.

In addition, meeting students from other programs and staff members from different offices showed me all the different types of personalities, political views, and backgrounds people that wish to work or do work in government. This widened my view of the definition of what a politician/government worker can be. I met people from all different types of backgrounds and majors, with one same goal. To help further or change the current government into what they believe to best serve the people. Their passion reignited my own passion for governmental work and helped narrow down the specific role I wish to play in the political process. When taking classes, it is somewhat easy to separate what is happening in class to something that affects millions of people. My experience with my STEP project has shown me that every decision being made and every policy passed by the government have real consequences and are important to someone somewhere.

My STEP project also taught me about some stark differences between the Canadian and American governments. Before this internship, Canada and America were almost twins in my mind. We have so many similarities that many people forget that entering Canada is entering a foreign country with very different cultural and political views. Attending my first Question Period, I was astounded at what a spectacle it was for the public. There was yelling, jeering, and desk banging. Most definitely a cultural shock when comparing it to our government processes. In addition, the issues being spoken about were extremely diverse. Topics could go from infrastructure, the environment, or the rights of First Nations people. Topics were wide ranged and thoroughly discussed between party lines. I got a sense for how the Canadian government was much more efficient than the American counterpart. Party’s had total control of their members, which expedited the voting process and let for policies to be quickly passed or denied.

I have taken many political science classes at Ohio State about how the government works and how it affects other nations. This project gave me the opportunity to see all of those topics in person and gain the first-hand experience in being involved directly with them. I saw how different the Canadian government was to the American one, and how those differences affected their policies and ways politics were handled. In addition, this project gave me a clear insight into the profession I wish to take in the future. I was considering working for a member of the government or being apart of a branch of government, however, as a lawyer, I would be able to influence policies that government focuses on and the changes that may be needed to them. In addition, this project introduced me to a group of like-minded students and some wonderful coworkers that I hope to keep in touch with. I became close friends with some students from several other schools that were in our program group. Meeting them showed me an insight into different political opinions, worldviews, and in general a variety of different personalities. I became very close to my Member of Parliament’s personal assistant and his staff and look forward to keeping in contact with them for future references.

Sitting on the Speaker of the House’s chair

Attending the Liberal Garden Party

 This past month, I had the incredible opportunity to intern abroad in Paris, France with Deloitte’s Digital Factory. I was able to participate in this program through the Ohio State Fisher College of Business. The school offers consulting global projects around the world for students to intern abroad with a variety of different companies and countries.I worked alongside three other Ohio State Students to collaboratively create commercialization decks for clientele and design user interaction models for the Digital Factory online application. During my time, I was able to learn about UX/UI design frameworks, Robotic Intelligence Automation, and Deloitte’s innovative digital product solutions. 

 This experience allowed me to grasp a deeper understanding of digitalization in business and expand my global mindset. I expanded my expertise in powerpoint by constantly being challenged to revamp and construct slide decks. Communicating in business when your co-workers don’t speak the same language was definitely another growth point for me. I saw how my communication and teamwork abilities strengthened throughout the month long internship. I realized how critical it is to understand the differences on how each country runs business and the culture behind it. Living in another country for a month opened my eyes to how independent I can be. I was able to plan and create itineraries for weekend travel, as well as cook my own meals, and plan out finances. 

   I created a very close connection with my boss during the four week program. He gave me incredible advice not only on a professional aspect, but also general life advice that really resonated with me. He challenged my group to constantly ask questions and dive deeper into the work we were doing. He arranged meetings so we were able to meet with a variety of employees that work in different fields throughout Deloitte. This allowed us to get an idea of which careers we were interested in pursuing. Specifically, I was able to grab lunch with someone in the supply chain/logistics field which really sparked my interest and made me think of applying to other internships in this area. This project allowed me to grasp a better understanding of what I want to accomplish during the rest of my time at Ohio State and allowed me to get a feel of what a corporate job looks like. 

  Another event that sparked my growth as an individual was consistently planning out activities and trips for my group. I really took initiative in this and put a mass amount of effort into making sure I experienced the most that I could. I knew that I wanted to travel somewhere outside of Paris for at least one weekend during this four week internship. Although others agreed that they wanted to do the same, no one stepped up to do the busy work of finding hotels, plane tickets, and creating itineraries. Having the whole planning thrown on me was definitely stressful, but really allowed me to grow and boost my independence. I was able to find some of the cheapest plane tickets to Madrid, a beautiful Airbnb with an amazing balcony looking over Malasana, and found amazing restaurants and museums that we visited during our trip. By planning and executing what I wanted to do, I was able to challenge myself and grow immensely. Now I am much more comfortable traveling in different countries and have developed stronger organization and planning skillsets. 

   Public speaking was definitely one of my bigger weaknesses going into this global internship. I remember the first day our boss pulled us into a meeting, gave us a pretty broad topic to research, and told us that we would be presenting in front of all the partners the next morning. My breathing heightened and my palms turned sweaty while he spoke. After hours of research and the creation of an amazing powerpoint slide deck, my group and I delivered a remarkable presentation and the team was highly impressed with our efforts. During the rest of the four weeks, we had a bunch of different presentations. Some only in front of our boss, while others almost the entire team attended. As I have learned with almost anything, practice almost aways will help you improve. This internship gave me the opportunity to present over and over again and I can say with confidence that I am a much better presenter because of this experience.

   Deciding to go on a global internship in a foreign country and working with individuals that I barely knew was already a huge step in the growth that I experienced during my time. Soon I will be going to start another internship that’s placed in New Jersey for the next 6 months and I truly believe my Deloitte internship made be better prepared for this upcoming one. The organization and planning skills that I developed will definitely be of assistance when I live in another city by myself for an even longer period of time. My presentations will be much smoother and I’ll be even more confident going into meetings with my boss and other coworkers. The whole experience gave me a glimpse of what corporate business looks like and how to be independent. I’m beyond grateful to have experienced something like this and I hope that future STEP students will also have the opportunity to gain this growth with whatever they decide to use their money for. 

1.

The group of eight was broken into two at the BMW Group in Stockholm. One group worked on the customer journey for the Nordic markets and worked toward creating comprehensive graphical representations of the customer journey. My group completed a series of market analyses on the auto finance industry in the Nordic regions and created an analytical presentation with all our research along with recommendations that we decided were important given our research.

Give or take, we conducted 14 interviews with internal employees, including two CEOs and a CFO. At the end of the project, we presented all our findings to everyone related to our project, including the Head of Project Management and the CEO for BMW Financial Services in the Nordic region.

2.

During this trip, the most important transformation that happened to me was my first impression of the consulting profession. Before working at BMW, I was still going back and forth between wanting to do something investing-related and something consulting-related for a career. However, after what I have done and seen at BMW, I am now leaning more towards consulting.I also believe that I have matured a lot, not only from being in a professional setting for the first time but also from the meetings we had as a group with CEOs and CFOs. Hearing their life stories and lessons they learned along the way was inspiring.

3.

Very recently, I accepted a consulting internship at EY for the summer of 2020, which would become my second time being exposed to consulting. At BMW, I met an EY consultant whose client has been BMW for the past two years. Talking to her about her experiences only solidified my desire to become a consultant after college. It was interesting to hear the perspective of someone who also works at EY but in a completely different geographical location.

One of the CEOs that we met with, who was the CEO for BMW Financial Services in the Nordic markets, told a life story that I was really inspired from. He told us about the lessons about sacrifice, losing, and climbing the career ladder that he had learned throughout his life. Some of the lessons were those that I had gotten a taste of this past year during my sophomore year in college, so I resonated with them.

Overall, I believe that I have fine-tuned my professionalism and conscientiousness. I feel more prepared for future career endeavors. It is not every day that I get to meet so many leaders in an industry in a month, so I am thankful for this opportunity for exposing me to such good influences.

4.

The transformations that happened on this trip all lead toward a more solidified career path for me. With a stronger sense of belonging in the field of consulting and a more refined mindset, I believe that this trip kickstarted my journey towards being the best consultant I can be.

The Fisher Global Project is designed for students to provide them a global scope with work experience in foreign country. Students work as a team in consulting firm to help them deal with problems. I worked with 3 more OSU students in Ayming consulting company which located in  Paris. During the internship, we did marketing research and social media analysis.

This internship enables me to redefine the “teamwork”. We did lots of group project during the school. Everyone knows how important teamwork is. Before this internship, I never worry about teamwork. From my perspective, we are all OSU fisher students. With similar background and age, I believe we will work well.

But from our first task, we met the biggest challenge ever: to discuss a solution plan to meet the boss’s requirement. The marketing manager require us to do marketing research on 9 different countries. Each country she wants 10 competitors. Each service line she also wants 10 competitors. How to find competitors puzzled us. And each competitors she wants SWOT analysis. The huge workload is the first obstacle. How to finish the huge task in two weeks. To discuss the solution plan, we discussed almost every day more than once.

In our team, out manager speaks French, two of my American teammates speak English, one more Chinese teammate and I speaks Chinese. So, using English to discuss problem make us struggle a lot to understand each other, which also waste plenty of time.

Third, our perspective of this work is so different. Everyone anticipates different things, which result different attitude toward this job. The perspective is hard to change, and make our teamwork became harder.

This internship gives me an entire new idea about teamwork and make me rethink my career path. I will explore more career and myself to decide my future career. Thanks Fisher gives me this precious opportunity to intern with other students in a foreign country. This will definitely be a memorable experience in my entire life!

MY STEP Signature Project enabled me to participate in the Fisher College of Business Global Consulting Firm. Through this program, I lived independently in Paris, France and have a month long internship with Ayming Consulting Group. During this internship, I worked with am international team of three students and preformed marketing research and competitive analysis for Ayming.

Prior to my departure, I felt very anxious about living abroad in a city as big as Paris. This trip would consist of a lot of firsts for me: my first time living in an apartment, my first time traveling to work by way of public transportation and my first time learning to speak French.  I knew that my STEP Signature Project would be transformational, but the personal and professional transformation I experienced far exceeded my expectations. The major transformation in myself that I found as a result of this project was how to be confident in my ideas, my work and ultimately in myself.

My team consisted of three accounting majors for a marketing research project. This was difficult for me because as the only marketing major in the group, they often struggled with understanding the way I wanted to approach a problem. I learned to have confidence in my ideas and find ways to compromise on ideas that each member was passionate about in order to maintain team morale and continue making progress onthe project.

Outside of work, the best thing that enabled me to grow confidently in myself was to use public transportation and navigate the city by myself. I had to practice awareness of where I was and strategically plan my trips to know which metro lines I would have to transfer on. This was a challenge because I do not speak French and the metro is usually busy with many people who are on the go. Because I traveled this way, I was able to see different aspects of the French culture. My favorite way to pass the time on the 30+ minute metro rides was to look at the fashion and create a vision board of Parisian fashion.

This experience is something I will value for the rest of my life. I learned how to rely on myself and how to work with people who think differently than I do. I expanded my cultural literacy and created genuine friendships with Parisians and my teammates. The lessons and the technical skills that I developed will benefit me in the future as a person and a young professional.

After work the team would go to different tourist attractions.

Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project.

My STEP signature project was a four-week Global Projects internship in Salamanca, Spain. The project was through Fisher’s Office of Global Business. During this time, three others and I were tasked to identify future risks and opportunities for Deloitte while learning more about disruptive technologies such as blockchain.

What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project?

During this trip, I become much more confident in myself in a professional setting. This was my first internship, so I was nervous about my performance and capabilities. However, as I gained more experience, I became more comfortable working with others and completing projects in a professional environment. Additionally, we all received positive feedback regarding the projects, which eased my worries significantly. Now, I am a more confident individual and professional which will carry into my future endeavors.

Being in Spain also allowed me to have a very different perspective on life. During my time there, I was able to experience a different culture. Their priorities differ from those in the United States. Spanish culture places a high importance on enjoying life and people, whereas the US has a higher priority on financial success and careers. The overall experience allowed me to reflect on what was important to me and I believe that I now have a much more well-rounded perspective on life.

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?

The most valuable takeaways from this project were shown to me through interactions with others. Being able to work intimately with three of my peers at OSU taught me a lot about myself. Completing rigorous projects that involved significant group discussion and critiques challenged the entire group, but overall, it was a very teaching experience. I learned a lot about my own style when it comes to working with others and differences in approaching problems. Being able to adapt and understand the style of others was a skill of mine that was not as developed prior to the internship, but now I am much more confident in being able to closely work with others while respecting differences in ideologies.

Performance in the workplace was another factor that led to personal change. As I mentioned before, this was my first internship, so I was definitely nervous about my time at the company. Being able to work with other high achieving and driven students encouraged me to put forth my best effort and it motivated me to push myself alongside them. In the end, my confidence was significantly boosted through our success in projects and glowing feedback from management and our coworkers at the company.

Lastly, I learned so much through living in a foreign country. Being able to experience Spain similar to that of a native allowed me to become more of a global citizen. I was lucky to have the opportunity to be able to spend a lot of time with my amazing coworkers and become more immersed in the vibrant culture of Spain. The food, language, and social atmosphere were so different from what I’m used to and experiencing a new perspective on life was extremely refreshing and educational. Being able to see sights and eat food common to Spain allowed me to feel like I was truly living there rather than simply visiting. Even my limited Spanish improved quite a bit!

Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life?

Overall, I learned so much about myself, my career interests, and other people and cultures. I mainly came to gain experience working and figuring out where the type of career I want to pursue in the future. Now I have a clearer direction on what fields I want to focus in and more importantly the work/life balance I desire. Knowing those will aide me significantly on job searches and my future career goals. Additionally, being able to work with others was so valuable. In a time where teamwork is at its highest emphasis in the professional workplace, being able to work well with others is vital. Learning how to work with others well was definitely difficult at first but being able to grow on understanding and respecting other people’s opinions is a skill I will use for the rest of my life. This experience was extremely transformative, and I came away with lessons that are invaluable in both career and everyday life.

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project.

My Canadian Parliamentary Internship consisted of numerous activities and tasks. For the most part I was tasked with creating spreadsheets and visuals of all the federal funding entering the Riding of which my Member of Parliament represented, writing speeches to be presented in the Riding as well as on the Hill, replying to constituents, attending committee meetings and assisting in them, amongst other administrative and legislative tasks. Meetings were set up to meet the Speakers of the Senate and the House as well as U.S Embassy representatives, amongst other important figures in the Canadian government and foreign affairs as part of the program as well.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? 

This project more than anything made me more comfortable with who I am and confident in what I want to pursue in life. I’ve always been on the fence and indecisive and I think by being able to gain hands-on experience serving as a political staffer introduced me to types of work and tasks that I wouldn’t have known, and ultimately it made me see I’m certain I’d like to pursue a career of sorts in the public service/government sector.

It was eye-opening to see everything through a minority government’s eyes as that was where I was placed (The NDP party) and I think that truly did broaden my perspective on politics and issues which is something that this experience allowed me to gain. I am now able to say my global perspective is broadened by this experience (obviously not to the extent it should be as that’s something that needs to constantly evolve). It’s certainly one thing to read about politics and governments in a classroom and that builds a great foundation, but being able to experience and participate in it firsthand is what really leaves an impact and shows you how things work in the real world. Being able to have almost complete access to the Hill, meet important figures in Canadian politics, and have an active role in government functions really made me realize I want to be able to participate wherever possible in some degree similar to this.

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? 

Numerous experiences, interactions, and activities during my STEP Signature Project led to the changes that I was able to experience which impacted me positively. The change was the impact, it created a more positive and accepting light of myself and my work and a growing desire to work harder and pursue more.

I’d say one of the most important aspects that led to this change was that I was trusted by my boss and my coworkers to work on considerably important things. By being given trust I grew more confident in myself and the work I produced and more confident in working harder and wanting to help more. I was tasked with one speech originally to be given on D-Day, and then from there the Riding office and my MP himself liked what I had written and had tasked me with many more speeches to write for different events and topics such as Pride, Labor Unions, and one delivered on the Hill for Philippines Independence Day. Trust and being given important work really increases the value one sees in themselves and creates more pride in what they create and do.

I’d also say that the interactions I had with NDP Members of Parliament created a change in myself. It gave me the confidence to pursue my goals and future endeavors because when they spoke to my peers and me they genuinely believed we have the potential to make a difference in the world and also saw us as people who can hold substantive and important conversations with them. I never found the interactions to be fake or forced, these MP’s genuinely enjoyed and kept up conversations with us and continued to inspire us to go after what it is we wish to change in the world. It really provided a confidence boost to pursue my goals.

Another important aspect was meeting U.S Embassy representatives. I found hearing their stories and what their careers were like really inspired me to consider a career in foreign affairs. It gave me a drive and the confidence to want to look further into different careers that work with the government and international relations. 

Overall the project provided many transformational experiences and opportunities to grow as a person.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? 

This transformational experience was valuable for multiple reasons. For professional and career goals this experience allowed me to gain hands-on experience with legislative and administrative tasks, as well as see how a government works first-hand. It created more passion and drive to want to pursue this type of career as well as give the experiences needed to be able to do well and succeed. 

When it comes to academic and personal goals I found that this experience allowed me to be comfortable with who I am as well as how I perform tasks. It allowed me to grow confident in how I work and be confident in the work I produce. By being trusted to complete some important work/tasks I found that it created more confidence and pride in what I do which is certainly something to help and better myself when it comes to pursuing work in my academic career and pride in what I do in my personal goals.

 

For my STEP project, I chose to do a Global Project through the Fisher Office of Global Business. In this project, I worked on a 4-week long consulting project for BMW Financial Services (FS). We specifically performed an analysis of all FS products with a market outlook of 2025.

This project provided me with the chance to go abroad for the first time in my life. Additionally, it was my first time working for a company as big, and globally recognized as BMW. Through this experience, I learned so much about the culture of Sweden and how business is conducted. To begin, we found that everyone in Sweden was very generous and willing to help us. At work, we also knew that the employees at BMW valued our feedback and wanted to listen to the details of our project. Many times, when we had questions, employees were quick to reach out and assist with any of our needs.

In addition to being in Sweden, our group also traveled to Denmark, Norway, and Germany. We found it interesting to learn about how each of the cultures differed in the places that we traveled. For our project, we were tasked with learning how the FS products for BMW differed in the Nordic Region of Europe. Therefore, it was an amazing experience to be able to travel to all these places first-hand and learn how the automobile industry is changing. We focused on the different environmental laws and cultural practices in each of those countries in relation to BMW’s FS products.

There were many experiences that led us to having a great project. The first of which was when we had the opportunity to speak with the CEO of BMW Sweden. In our meeting, we discussed his career and how the culture in Sweden influences business. One of the topics that he stressed the importance of was learning in whatever work environment you are in. Specifically, he said that in every setting, he will take notes and attentively listen to who is speaking, as he felt it was important to hear from every individual. In our final presentation, we had invited many employees from BMW to attend. As we were presenting, I noticed that most employees were actively taking notes and listening to our presentations. This made us feel valued as a group, and we really appreciated learning from the CEO.

The next experience we had was our first day at BMW. Because BMW was such a big company, a large portion of our project was simply learning about the business. It involved extensive research as well as interviewing employees at BMW and Mini Cooper. We also visited dealerships to gain a greater understanding of the company as a whole. Through those interviews, our group met many great people and learned so much about the automobile industry as a whole. It was a very unique experience to learn each employee’s perspective on where they felt the automobile was evolving within the next 10 years. Not only were they very generous with their time, but the employees were willing to answer any follow up questions we had and were excited to hear what we had to say. It made for a great experience overall.

Finally, our travel experiences over the weekends truly made the trip a memorable time. As I stated earlier, our group traveled to Denmark, Norway, and Germany. In each of those places, we were able to observe the variance of cultures. It was very interesting to visit many historical monuments and museums, while also being able to interact with the local people. One of my favorite places we visited was Bergen, Norway. While there, we were able to hike up one of the tallest mountains and go on a fjord (deep inlet of sea between high cliffs) tour. I really enjoyed our travel experiences, and it made working in Sweden even more memorable.

One of the biggest things that I learned from this trip is that I would potentially like to work in the automobile industry in the future. During our work, I was very interested in how the industry is changing and constantly envolving with the invention of fully electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles. As a finance major, I would like to combine my passion for finance with the automobile industry. In addition to working in the automobile industry, I learned that I would potentially like to work abroad in the future.

Before this trip, I had never traveled outside the U.S. and therefore, never considered working in a different country. However, after working in Sweden, I realized that working abroad is very valuable and can help you grow a lot as an individual. In the future, I would potentially like to work in another country. Overall, there were many experiences that made Sweden a great experience. From speaking with the CEO to traveling to different places, our group had many unforgettable experiences that made for a truly memorable trip.