Alex Hoehn STEP Post-Project Reflection

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

For my STEP signature project I completed an internship with Cooper Tire and Rubber in Findlay Ohio.  During my internship (which lasted 8 months, from May to December) I worked in a research department called the tread group.  While working for the tread group, I frequently assisted on large scale research projects, as well as heading up 3 of my own projects that I completed before the end of my term with Cooper.

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

My view of the professional world, particularly in my own field of Chemical Engineering, changed the most through the duration of my project.  Before my project, I really had no idea of how engineers worked in their field, with my only real exposure being through college classes.  The communication I experienced on a day-to-day basis was the most impactful for me, as I saw my mentors constantly pitching ideas to each other, other members of our group, and members of other groups in attempts to get ideas flowing.  In college, the value of communication is frequently overlooked and this project showed me just how crucial it is to success in life.

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?

One of the key aspects that assisted in my transformation were the relationships I built over the course of my internship.  I was given two mentors as my point people who assigned me tasks and I worked with on a daily basis and we grew very close over the duration of my internship.  Both of them would frequently take me to their meetings after my first 3 months working for them.  In addition, working with them and other group members showed me just how important communicating with each other building strong relationships in the work force is.

Another key event, or in my case, events that sculpted my view was creating and running my own experiments.  These three tasks, which I worked on throughout the course of my internship, were some of the most beneficial experiences for me academically and professionally.  For these projects, I was simply given a problem and told to design an experiemental method to test different properties or addressing certain problems.  While my mentors provided me with assistance, I was primarily on my own, or working with other interns.  These experiences assisted in transforming my view of what being a chemical engineer actually means.

Finally, the last key aspect of my project that led to my transformations were the discussion leads and presentations I gave during my internship.  Throughout my internship, I led discussion at research idea meeting 4-5 times, as well as giving two larger presentations.  Obviously, for my first presentation, I had severe nerves, however the work setting and discussion centered style of meetings showed me just what it takes to properly pitch ideas, build off of other peoples ideas, and work as a group towards a goal.

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

This transformation will be most important to me in pushing my future career farther and improving it at every opportunity I have.  When I continue to go out to the world looking for other internships or full-time jobs, I will have a better idea of what employers are actually looking for because I have seen it.  In addition, I will already have had 2/3 a year expirence working where others may have none.  I already know how the meetings will play out and I have will have more confidence in group discussions.  Additionally, and most importantly, this project enabled me to make many connections throughout the polymer industry that I will continue to nurture throughout the rest of my career.

My STEP signature project was a 6 month Co-op located in Cincinnati working for Johnson & Johnson. I worked as a Finance/Accounting Co-op and had a multitude of responsibilities. Some included sending out weekly sales reports, travel and expense compliance reports, and building trackers to analyze performance.

Participating in a co-op for 6 months has definitely impacted and changed me positively. This was my first ever corporate job, prior I had been working at Chipotle, so there was a big learning curve at first. I obviously was able to pick up a lot of technical skills like improving my excel skills and how to create journal entries but I also learned plenty of soft skills. Working in the office with other business professionals helped developed my soft skills and how to act in a corporate setting. Understanding all those nuances are very important in the business world. Along with the work experience, just living by myself and adulting was very enlightening.

Events that contributed to my growth were just day to day activities. As a Co-op, my role was a lot less project-based compared to an intern. I did have my own project but I had many deliverables that I had to complete each week and month throughout my stay. Many of the relationships I had while working at Johnson & Johnson also contributed to my growth.

My manager played an integral part in my development while working. He was a nice guy who was also very smart and organized. I tried to take as many of his habits and try to implement them within my day to day work activities. He was a great role model to have while working there. Everyone around the office was also very friendly and made it easy for me to feel comfortable which in turn allowed me to excel at my work since I wasn’t worried about asking questions.

Along with my relationships, all the tasks I had to do were the other main contributors to my growth. I’ve touched on some of them already but many of them forced me to be quick and efficient with Excel. This included sending out weekly sales reports to the teams of all five platforms within Ethicon J&J. Knowing other co-workers relied on your work made it stressful at first but motivated me to do the best job I could. I also built trackers to analyze the performance of various marketing programs within the Energy platform of Ethicon. These trackers analyzed the dollar, volume, and GP growth of the customers who participated in them. I also had to do journal entries which helped me brush up and learn more about the accounting of a business. All these various tasks helped me grow in my technical skills, as well as improved my work ethic and showed me the value of working hard and doing a good job.

All of this development will be very integral in my life moving forward. All the hard skills I developed in my first corporate role will play a pivotal role moving forward for my next internship and for my first job once I graduate. All the soft skills I developed are important too. A lot of business is about networking and the relationships you’re able to build. I feel I’ve always been a pretty personable person but this Co-op experience just improved upon that as well as learning how to properly communicate in the business world will be important too. Lastly, living by myself for 6 months was very enlightening. I learned how to cook, clean, and figured out how to stay busy. Overall, this was an incredible experience I’m I was able to participate in and STEP helped a lot so I’m thankful for that.

My STEP Signature Project was an internship with the local non-profit Community Refugee and Immigration Services. As an intern, I created professional development content that could be utilized by those within the organization, particularly high-school aged new American immigrants. 

Through my STEP Signature Project, I learned a lot about myself. Going into the project, I had limited knowledge of the non-profit sector. Although I had volunteered at Dress for Success and been a mentor for Community Refugee and Immigration Services in the past, I had never been this actively involved in the non-profit sphere. Interning with Community Refugee and Immigration Services made me further realize my passion for utilizing professional development as a tool for empowerment.  However, the experience also challenged my assumption about my future career path. 

My experience creating professional development content for Community Refugee and Immigration Services made me recognize my passion for empowering others. From networking with local professionals, to creating curriculum and content that was pertinent– the internship introduced me to a new side of myself. I realized how much I valued teaching, collaborating and having a creative outlet. 

There was no particular event that lead me to the conclusion that the non-profit sector might not be for me, rather it was the culmination of all my experiences. I had an amazing time interning with Community Refugee and Immigration Services, but I also had moments of frustration. Preparing professional development content that would be used by students within high schools required a lot of attention-to-detail. I had to meet the standards set forth by the schools and Community Refugee and Immigration Services all while providing content that was relevant and interesting to students. At times it felt impossible to satisfy each of these group’s needs.

While interning with Community Refugee and Immigration Services, I met with a number of professionals. These interactions were very insightful both professionally and personally. During these conversations, I gained invaluable advice and learned from these professionals’ experiences. I heard difficulties experienced by non-profits and gained a better understanding of a day-in-the-life of someone working in a non-profit. I left the internship with a greater respect for the work done by those within this sector. 

This transformation was significant in my life because now I have a better understanding of what I want to do in the future in terms of internships and careers. This internship provided me a wonderful experience and allowed me to explore my passion for non-profits and empowerment. In the future, I want to intern with different organizations, including for-profit organizations. I want to continue to learn more about myself and use internships as an opportunity to try-on different career paths. Although my time with Community Refugee and Immigration Services was incredibly rewarding, I look forward to exploring my interests further with other opportunities. 

During the fall of 2019 I worked as a Software developer intern at CDO Technologies. My main task was to development and implement new features for an application that tracked participants in a study. I also had to attend multiple meetings to determine the specifications of requested features with clients.

My STEP project gave me a better understanding of how software was developed in the industry. Before this co-opportunity, I didn’t have any experience creating software professionally, and I only experience from schoolwork and personal projects. So, I thought software development consisted of just programming the entire time, but it was different from what I had imaged. From my experience, not all my time was spent programming. I had to go to meetings with clients to discuss the development of software and met with fellow developers to discuss how theses features will be designed and implemented.  This experience changed my perceptions and helped showed me that programming isn’t the only thing that happens when developing software.

Other than changing my understanding on how software was developed, my skills in programming and creating software also improved. I never programmed in the industry before, so I learned many things from this co-opportunity. I was able to learn more about databases and web development. I was able to learn about frameworks and libraries that I wouldn’t have normally used.  I even learned a little about development on mobile devices and RFID readers.

From this co-opportunity I experienced a lot more than I expected. My understanding of the software development process changed by going through the development process itself at CDO Technologies. It began with me meeting with clients to get details of what they want from the feature. And then I would create use-cases which detailed the reasons for the feature and what the feature did. These use-cases would be then be sent to the client to be reviewed and then sent back to me for revision if needed. After the use-cases are finalized then I began the actual implementation of the feature.

My development skills also improved from going through the development process.  The main project I worked on was an application that tracked participants in a study. In the study, participants are sent certain equipment which records data, and the equipment is sent back to CDO Technologies through the mail when the participant is done with the study. A shipping label is made through FedEx and emailed to the participant whenever a participant needs to send back the equipment. The process of making and sending the shipping label took 5 minutes but there were multiple participants in the study and there was a backup in making returns. So, I developed a feature utilizing FedEx’s API and Java to automatically create a shipping label and email it to a participant. This streamlined the process from 5 minutes to a click of a button.

Another one of the features I developed was an inventory which tracked the number of equipment available to send to participates in a study. Previously the equipment was tracked on excel sheets and sticky notes. This risked lots of confusion and miscounts. The inventory I developed allowed users to look and manage the inventory right in the participant tracking application.

By developing different features for the applications at CDO Technologies, I was able to learn about many different technologies. For example, I was able to learn different frameworks like Struts and Spring, and a new API from FedEx. I was also able to get more practice with Java and code more complex things compared to my previous work. Since these applications are web based, I had more exposure using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Overall it was a positive experience at CDO where it changed my understanding of Software development while also improving my development skills in software.

The things I learned at CDO technologies helped me immensely professionally and personally. I learned different software development techniques and I learned how to better cooperate on a team and interact with others professionally. These new skills can be then applied to my future careers and projects in the future. I would be able to develop software more efficiently, while also receiving more professional work opportunities due to the experience.  They offered me to work there again this coming summer, and I accepted it. I was able to perform well enough on the job to have the chance to intern here again, this may mean more challenging and rewarding tasks, and the possibility to work here full time after graduating.

The skills learned here can be applied academically as well. As I proceed into more difficult courses, I may be able to use my previous experience on my classwork to help me. This may lead to higher quality work and grades. I also like to make games and websites as a hobby, and the skills I gained at CDO will help me improve the quality of the games and websites I create.

This co-opportunity helped me in multiple aspects of my life, from developing software to general interactions with others. I enjoyed working here and I could see myself working there in the future.

My STEP project was the first of three semesters as a Co Op working in Network Planning for Delta Air Lines. I spent four months living independently in Atlanta, GA working on the Out For Sale schedule team at Delta helping ensure that everything is running smoothly in the flight schedule before the planes fly.

My experience living alone and working at Delta marked the beginning of my transition to a fully independent adult. When I wanted to think about what life would be like when I am older, I would need to imagine myself living alone and speculate what job I would have to support myself. Now when I think about life after graduation, I can think back to my STEP project which has given me a fantastic idea of what my future career could be like for years to come. Thanks to my Co Op experience, I know how to drive myself and manage my productivity to complete important projects on time and with good results. I now know what it is like to responsibly live alone, cook for myself every day, and support myself financially. As a benefit to experience at Delta, I have been able to open my eyes to new cultures as I have traveled to many new countries I would never have been able to see otherwise.

My work experience at Delta was the most important part of my STEP project that led to my transformation into a more independent adult. At the beginning of my Co Op, I was tasked with running several daily and weekly reports on the metrics of Delta’s flight schedule. These reports were tedious and time-consuming, taking upwards of 10 hours a week total for me to complete. My boss gave me the task of improving the way these reports are run, which ended up being the major project of my Co Op. Unlike in most school assigned projects, I was given little direction in completing this task. I spent a long time analyzing the way the reports are run and reached out to co-workers to get their ideas on how the reports are optimized. I used my experience in excel from OSU classes to make my own changes and learned new skills from my colleagues to develop a new system for running the reports up to 30% faster than using the previous system. Projects like this gave me experience and skills that I will be able to use throughout my future classes and career and taught me the benefits of using all my resources and collaborating with those around me.

Outside of work, living in a new and unfamiliar city with no social connections led to a great transformation in my ability to take care of myself. Living in an apartment in the city and providing food for myself quickly proved to be far more difficult than living in a dorm with my friends and eating from my meal plan at Ohio State. My STEP project allowed me to adjust to this new independent living and get used to cooking for myself and commuting to work every day before I transition to that way of life permanently after graduation. Because of this component of my STEP project, I feel much more comfortable moving anywhere I have the opportunity to after graduation and being able to thrive.

One of the greatest perks of working for Delta Air Lines is the ability to travel for free on any Delta flight with available seating. I was able to use this perk to travel to Seoul, Seattle, New York, London, Panama, and China on the weekends during my STEP project. This rapid exposure to new countries gave me a sudden view of the lives of other people around the world. I now feel much more involved as a global citizen and am more compelled to keep up with current events around the world to stay up to date and continue my exposure to new cultures.

My STEP signature project as a Co Op at Delta Air Lines is significant because it will serve as a base from which I can leap into a future career in aviation. The experience will also allow me to better contextualize what I am learning in my classes for my aviation management major. I have always wanted to work for an airline as my future career and the experience from my STEP project will greatly increase the chance that I will be able to do so. Even if I do not return to work at Delta after graduation, I will be able to use everything I have learned and all the people I have met to help me find a job I will be passionate about and thrive at and give me the skills to excel at it. I am so thankful for the opportunity my STEP project has already given me and for the transformational effect it will have on the rest of my life.

Plant Production Schedule 2019

Brainstorm with Mentor

1.) My STEP Project was centered around a co-op that I completed in the Fall of 2019 with Cooper Tire and Rubber Company in Findlay, OH.  My role was a Corporate Industrial Engineering Intern where I worked closely with another OSU student. I spent approximately 50% of my time working in the neighboring Findlay plant and 50% of my time supporting the various plants around the world with Excel-based projects.

2.) I have learned a lot both in my chosen field of study and about myself through my co-op this fall.  For one, I learned how to operate in a professional setting.  Being the only co-op directly in the department, I was responsible for my own projects and was provided guidance from my mentor/manager.  I discovered that I prefer working closely with other team members rather than trying to solo a project on my own.  But I also discovered that by bringing individual contributions to a larger group, even as a junior role, provides a valuable perspective that can help solve larger problems.  Another way the STEP project impacted me was by changing my view of problem-solving remotely.  I learned how important being present is and what additional work you have to put in to help solve a problem remotely.

3.) Before describing how my STEP project led me to these changes, I just want to say that because of the nature of the industry I was in (tire-making), I am not at liberty to speak into specific details of the projects I worked on and will instead speak in more general terms.  One major event that led to my realization of my preference in working in teams was taking over a project on tire-building from a previous co-op.  This was a major project, that would last the remainder of my time with the company, but I needed the team that worked with him on it to get me up to speed.  If I had been independently asked to read through his report and determine the state of the project/future steps, I would be still puzzling over it.  Having team members get me up to speed and support my various ideas through the project made me realize how important working in a team was to me, and that it is reflective of my strengths highlighted in the STEP Program.

Another major event that helped me realize my role in a professional environment was when I incorrectly completed a database assignment for my manager.  Rather than be upset with my misinterpretation and mistake in the assignment, my manager treated it as a learning opportunity for me.  He took me through what he expected step-by-step and by the end of the semester, I successfully left a dynamic database system that will save future co-ops from running multiple queries/data mining for information.  This was a humbling experience because I learned how even in professional environment mistakes can be made and treated as an opportunity to get better rather than as a shortcoming.  This helped me realize that as I develop professionally, it is important to look for opportunities to improve and get help from those with more experience than me.

Another big takeaway from my project was how it changed how I viewed problem-solving remotely.  I had the opportunity to travel down to another plant on a business trip for 1 week in Tupelo, Mississippi to help them with a mixing project.  The team was only going to have 4 days down in the plant though, so we needed to hit the ground running with problem-solving when we arrived.  This meant that prior to our arrival, I had to organize both our schedule and collect data/info on the problem.  This was a serious challenge for me, as I had to call/email to ensure that we collected everything we needed for the project to be successful.  I learned how difficult it is sometimes to get everyone on the same page and how important asking the correct questions is to moving towards solving a problem.

4.) These changes are very significant to my life for a multitude of reasons.  For one, I received an offer to return to Cooper Tires this summer as a co-op again so these professional experiences/outcomes opened the door to more professional experience.  Another way this project was valuable, was by highlighting my strength when working in teams, I am going to take this and apply it to school.  I am going to focus more on group-studying when I return to school in the spring.  Finally, I think that organizing a project remotely that I became more effective in communicating, which will serve me in upcoming years in engineering teams.

1. During my STEP signature project, I was an intern for the United States Department of Defense. I got the opportunity to live in Maryland near Washington, D.C. and do software development work.
2. I learned a lot about myself during my internship. It was the first time I had ever lived really far away from anybody that I knew. While out there, I faced many new challenges such as making friends and buying my own groceries. I also had to share a room with 3 other people that I had never met before from all different backgrounds. One in particular, from Puerto Rico, introduced a mild language barrier to my life. From work, I learned a lot about computer science and what the real-world workforce looks like. Getting the opportunity to encounter these things made me a better, smarter, and more understanding person. I learned about and embraced the different cultures around me, trying new foods and meeting new people. I almost developed more as a person than as a professional during my internship.
3. My biggest influences in my personal growth were my roommates. The first one of them was from Puerto Rico. He spoke English relatively well, but it wasn’t perfect. It took a lot of time and patience to become accustomed to this, but he ended up being one of my better friends. He taught about Puerto Rican culture and food. We spent Thanksgiving together and we each made food. I made traditional American Thanksgiving dinner for him, while he made the Puerto Rican version for me.

   My second roommate was relatively local, so he didn’t have to travel very far unlike the rest of us. This allowed him to introduce us to some of his friends that he had already made, which really opened up a whole social life for me that I likely wouldn’t have had without him. We would frequently gather as a large group of friends and go to concerts, go out to dinner, or go to other social events. I wouldn’t have had this opportunity without this roommate.

   My third roommate had previously been an intern where we worked. He offered me a lot of professional guidance, both specific to where we worked and general to the computer science field. Without him, I would have been placed under a lot of stress due to missing a semester of school and not knowing how to handle that while being expected to take on a full workload at work. Serving as my mentor, he repeatedly calmed me down and made sure I was doing the right work for the job.

4. This transformation was valuable to my life for many reasons. First, from a professional standpoint, I gained a lot of valuable experience in the computer science field. I also networked with a lot of people and made connections that I can use to my advantage in the future. From an academic perspective, I now come back to school with more knowledge than I’ve ever had before. This will allow me to excel my classes and expand upon what I’m learning in classes to relate to the rea-world applications that I already know. From a personal perspective, I got better at forming relationships with new people and embracing and learning about other cultures.

Photos of the apartment that I lived in:

I completed a 6 month internship at Abbott Nutrition in the Packaging Engineering department for my STEP signature project. During this time I issued technical documents such as List of Tasks and Recommendations for Commercialization. I also completed Engineering Studies at Abbott Plants and Third Party Manufactures to quality new and existing packaging.

Before completing my signature project I did not know how I would succeed in an office environment. I had questions about my major and past experience. I was the first food engineer to be hired in the packaging internship and worried that my education did not align to the job tasks. Additionally, my previous experiences involved working in a laboratory, not in a cubical. I wondered if I would thrive in this type of environment that was less hands on than I was used to.

Reflecting on these anxieties now helps me to realize how much I have transformed over the past 6 months. I was concerned that my education and major would set me back. This assumption was partly correct however my peers expect this from every intern since we are stepping into a full time position. The training occurred on the job. I took the opportunity to ask questions when they arose and did outside research to further my understanding of packaging. The internship also provided time working in the packaging lab and in manufacturing plants. My worries about this experience not being hands on were also answered as I began the internship.

There were two interactions and experiences that transformed me and how I viewed my future. The first involved being packaging lead on a project and the second involved my exit interview. During the first week of my internship, I was asked to be packaging lead on a low-complexity project. I was surprised by this request since I had no previous packaging experience and was weary of the responsibility I would hold. To accomplish this project I reviewed similar projects and met with other packaging engineers to discuss questions and issues that arose. Near the end of the project some issues arose that were my responsibility. I was worried I would be reprimanded for these mistakes. I resolved the issues with the knowledge I had gained throughout the internship and communicated the lessons learned with the team. I felt like I had let the team down. However, after talking with members of the project team, they ensured me I did a fantastic job with the project and the issues would have arisen regardless of who the packaging lead was. During my last week of the internship, the project leader told me I did a terrific job and that I will be greatly missed.

The second interaction to transform me during the internship occurred with my manager during my exit interview. The interview seemed atypical since it was focused more on how they could improve the internship experience than on the quality of my work. I communicated with my manager how I believed the experience could be changed and asked what I could have done during my time to better help the company. My manger told me that my values and work ethic helped me to be successful in my position. He said that no intern came in with packaging experience and what the interns learn during their time is what sets them apart from one another. I was surprised to hear this since I felt like I was behind for most of the internship.

These two interactions helped me realize that my work ethic in an office environment improved significantly. I believed that I worked hard throughout the internship but I never felt like I excelled. To hear from multiple peers that my work was terrific and that I would be missed greatly impacted me. Being put into an unknown environment helped me form a work ethic and learn to professionally communicate questions with my peers. These skills helped transform me and I can take them forward to my next experience.

The skills of work ethic and communication can and must be taken into any career. Most of my peers did not have a packaging degree but were success in their careers. In order to accomplish this, one must ask questions and develop a work ethic to learn how to complete their job. My peers and I all took opportunities to further our learning and skills in packaging. Your degree is most likely not tailor exactly to the career you will have. Most college students strive to have a career after graduation, and that is my goal as well. Learning how to be successful in an unknown situation is a skill that I will take with me to every job and career I have in the future. This internship also motivated me to learn more about areas within food engineering that we do not directly discuss in the classroom. I will continue to take opportunities to learn more and further my education beyond my time at The Ohio State University.

My STEP Signature Project consisted of an 8 month internship with an energy storage company, pH Matter, LLC, in Columbus, OH. As a Research and Development Intern, I worked in the lab preparing hydrogen fuel cell catalysts for testing, running tests on the cells, and processing data and evaluating the success of the project.

I recently saw a quote on a bathroom wall that said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Starting my internship, I did not immediately connect with the job environment. As is typical with most research jobs, most of the work was individual, and the office I worked in did not have a large social network. As an extroverted person, I was unsure of how I would learn to thrive in such a closed-off environment. I spent many of my days alone in the lab, and had a lot more quiet time than I was used to. For a while, the silence drove me crazy, and I dreaded going to work each day. I was unsure if I would be able to last the entire 8 months.

As time wore on, I became accustomed to a quieter lifestyle. At first, I would go home craving any sort of social interaction, which only left me feeling more drained because I left myself no time to rest, packing my schedule full because the work I was doing was not fulfilling. As the school year began, I reached the go-no-go point, and decided to drop my classes and continue with the co-op. As the school year began, the FOMO of not being on campus was hitting me hard, and I regretted my decision daily. Then, I got over it. I realized that I was making a meaningful contribution to the work that the research team was doing, and I had an amazing opportunity to further their project and make a difference. I still wanted to see my friends, but I didn’t exhaust myself doing so, and often times opted instead for some alone time reading or playing guitar rather than filling up my social calendar. By being forced to be alone, I learned to slow down and be by myself, rather than constantly distracting myself with flashy, exciting things.

Through this STEP Signature project, my understanding of myself changed due to long periods of independent work, which allowed for personal reflection and transformation. Before this project, many times I was afraid to be alone by myself for too long, because of where my thoughts might wander when I wasn’t being constantly stimulated. Through this project, I was forced to spend a considerable amount of time alone, which required me to become familiar with my inner world. Through this alone time, I was able to slow down and reflect on my actions and thoughts, which gave me a better understanding of who I am as a person.

This project also impacted me professionally, as I was now a full time employee who was given a number of projects to complete, with a larger degree of autonomy than I had before. Instead of having a list of tasks that was very simple, I now had to take a full scale project and break it down, creating those task lists myself and prioritizing different projects to make sure I could finish everything within the time frame. In doing this, I learned to manage my time in a professional setting. Often times in school, I could get away with procrastinating to the last minute, because only I was impacted by my effort put into the project. But now, working as a team, I had to finish tasks and pass them along to my coworkers and give them time to complete their portions. This required me to create a schedule of responsibilities and stay on schedule so that everyone in the office could benefit from my contributions.

Personally, I had to adapt to many different aspects of living on my own. While I had learned to cook as a child, I had relied on the fridge being stocked and not really having to clean up after myself. Grocery shopping, laundry, and household chores became a new reality to me as I had to adjust to living on my own. This was difficult to adapt to, and it ended up taking a lot more time than I expected. I budgeted not only my money but also my time to make sure I had food to eat and clean clothes to wear each day. Likewise, scheduling time to go to the gym and take care of myself mentally and physically took up much of my time, and I became not only cognizant but also appreciative of many things in my life that I had taken for granted in the past. Overall, I grew immensely as a professional, as a adult living alone, and as a human being, gaining insight into the world of all three of these aspects of human life, and I could not be more grateful for this experience.

While college life is many people’s first experience in the real adult world, it is set up in a way that eases the transition, as many students find themselves far away from home in an unfamiliar environment. While this is good as many students find the transition difficult, it is not very similar to adult life. While students must now wash their clothes and do their homework without their parents reminders, dining halls and resident advisors provide students with services than many adults must provide themselves. This internship, combined with the experience of living on my own, gave me many useful skills that are crucial for surviving as an adult. As someone who plans to have a family one day, I need to learn to thrive in new living environments, not only for myself, but for my wife and children. This 8 month experience gave me a new perspective of how I must act in order to survive as a citizen, and I feel more prepared for my life after college, balancing work, school, and social commitments.

Work life is also something many college students are not prepared for when they leave school. While part time jobs are common for high school students and teach valuable skills, working 5 hours a week during the school year does not compare to the pressures of a full-time job, especially in one’s chose field. I had to learn to budget my time and resources at work so that I could complete all my tasks for my boss, prepare weekly reports for the research team, and show up to work daily dressed professionally and ready to work. This experience as an intern taught me hard work, dependability, and made me a thriving adult professional. These skills will carry over into any full time job I may have in the future, and I am glad to have gone through this adjustment while I was still in college and had a support system at the university, compared to adjusting after graduation.