In the fall semester of 2020, I was able to obtain a mechanical engineering co-op experience. I worked for an aerospace electronics company in Ohio and contributed to the creation of engineering drawings and mechanical analysis during my work term.

During this experience I was hoping to get a better understanding of what a day in the life of a mechanical engineer looks like along with what I liked and disliked about the job. When it comes to aerospace applications, I quickly realized that details are extremely important. The electronic box units that this company manufactures and designs have flown on satellites, rockets, and Mars rovers. The failure of these units could cause loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars or even human lives. I gained a much greater appreciation for the need to be very intentional with every design decision.

As far as engineering in general, I also learned how much time is spent in the documentation phase. Documentation is one of the most important steps of the design process. This process establishes an ability for other engineers to follow your work and ensure that all requirements are validated. As a result, often more time is spent in this phase than the analysis phase, which is what you are typically focused on learning in college. When it comes to my preferences, I learned that I enjoyed a lot of the software-related tasks more than the structural design components of a project.

One large task I was responsible for throughout the semester was implementing engineering change notices. Every part or component that the engineers design must be released with an official mechanical drawing, and this drawing contains all relevant information about the part. It includes the material the part is constructed from, its relevant dimensions, and sometimes which other parts it is assembled with. When any type of drawing change is deemed necessary, a change notice must be created and released to the document library. This change notice details exactly what changes were made to the drawings, why they were made, who authored the changes, and when they were authored. This could be a tedious process, as the entire procedure and documentation must be generated for even the smallest of changes. I got the chance to work on creating and implementing change notices for chassis, manufacturing fixtures, wire assemblies, and more.

My biggest technical design tasks included creating a screw capture plate for manufacturing and a “connector key” for a test harness. The screw capture plate was designed to hold all the screws, nuts, and washers needed for the assembly of a chassis. The purpose of the plate was to ensure that the manufacturing technician had visually accounted for and installed every necessary fastener in each unit. The “connector key” was attached to a harness plug and protruded laterally, which provided a physical barrier to impede plugging into one of the two jacks. The purpose of this key was to prevent the test technician from plugging wires into an incorrect jack, which would permanently damage the test unit. These tasks challenged my engineering design skills, and they also helped me to realize what part of the process I enjoyed the most.

As a co-op I also got to take part in a unique experience, as my site was hosting the company’s inaugural women in technology conference. The event had to be virtual this year, but I got the chance to act as a zoom host, and I was also in charge of collecting the speakers’ biographies, abstracts, and slide decks. There were seventy speakers, including many senior directors and technical fellows. Through this opportunity I had the chance to network and speak with many engineers from across the country. Their conference talks and sessions ranged from very technical topics, to career journey presentations, to professional development advice. I was able to network with many experienced engineers through my role as a host, and I learned a lot about being an engineer. I realized that there is not a single path to becoming successful, and that it is important to follow your passion.

The personal transformation I experienced as a result of my co-op experience, made possible through STEP funding, will have a lasting impact on both my personal life and professional career. I made connections through my daily work and the technical conference that I plan to keep up with throughout my career. As my time in college draws closer to its end, I begin to focus more and more on where I see myself after graduation. After this experience I feel assured that I will enjoy being an engineer and taking on innovation as the focus of my career. I also realized that I may hope to be more focused on some non-traditional areas for mechanical engineers such as controls and software. In order to enter these specialty fields, I may need to consider graduate school.

This project was important to me because I want to have a good idea of where I see my career going prior to graduating. Although classwork is important and provides the foundation for your knowledge as an engineer, it is impossible to know exactly what you want to do in the long-term without getting some hands-on experience first. The day-to-day work may look very different than you had imagined, and it is extremely helpful that you know this before committing to a fulltime job. Overall, I am grateful that this experience has given me a clearer idea of my passion, connections that will hopefully last a lifetime, and real-life engineering experience that has strengthened my confidence in my technical skills.

Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. 

My STEP Signature Project was a virtual internship with the International Program of US Together. As an intern my main tasks involved social media content creation, writing blog posts, researching grants. I also had the opportunity to help with a SWOT analysis for the International Program along with the manager and other interns. 

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

A major thing that changed for me after my internship experience was an increased sense of confidence in my skills and abilities. As an international student, I didn’t think I would be able to find an internship in the U.S. due to the required documentation. However, after doing some research I took the chance and applied when an international internship opportunity fell through over the summer, and I got the International Program internship. In my time with US Together I had an incredible supervisor that provided me with opportunities for me to grow professionally which also improved my confidence. So I went from being nervous and doubting myself often to being able to speak up at meetings and share my thoughts and ideas. 

I also got an increased appreciation and understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependence nonprofits have with each other and political institutions. US Together is a non-profit that serves refugees and immigrants in Central Ohio, and they were therefore impacted by the refugee cap set by the presidential administration. US Together worked along with other organizations to advocate to raise this cap to help more people, and continue the services for their current clients. Before the current administration, they had aspirations to expand to another city in Ohio, but due to the lack of federal funding, they were unable to. This also made the organization more dependent on grants from the civil society, so I learned a lot about grants and how competitive it is to be selected. 

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? 

My supervisor, Nina, was incredible and supportive throughout the whole internship. She tried to assign me tasks that I would enjoy and benefit from based on my academic background and professional aspirations. Additionally, Nina is originally from Bulgaria, so it was reassuring to see another European succeed in a nonprofit. Nina also took every opportunity she could to provide us interns with learning opportunities – she would invite us to other meetings, seminars, introduce us to other staff members and recommend online courses and tools to us. She showed me the importance of continuously learning and encouraged me to share my thoughts and opinions. 

One part of my internship included researching specific things related to the International Program such as the J-1 visa, social media strategy, and fundraising for nonprofits. I had to present my findings as a way to teach myself and other interns in addition to working on my communication skills. Doing this also improved my confidence as I became more comfortable talking in front of people (virtually) and answering questions and concerns. These presentations also improved my knowledge of the work in general, which improved the quality of the results from my other tasks. 

Another thing that helped improve my confidence in myself personally and professionally was participating in all of the additional meetings Nina invited me to and through these meetings I grew my confidence in my professional abilities. I took the chance whenever given to participate in extra projects or meetings so I could learn more from other team members. In the settings I worked in for US Together they appreciated everyone’s input and work, so as an intern I could take initiative if I saw improvements that needed to be made. One example was a suggestion to add and utilize Instagram highlights better to make their social media content more accessible. And I suggested that I was encouraged to organize necessary meetings with others to create a more concrete plan. So I also got to practice being in a leadership role. 

I also listened to webinars related to the current political climate and the refugee situation whenever I had the chance. This helped me learn more about the current situation for refugees and how impacted these nonprofits are by any political changes. It was especially interesting (and frustrating) to see some of the political theories and information I had learned about in the classroom in the real world. 

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

This change was especially valuable for me personally. As I have mentioned a lot of times, it helped improve my confidence in myself personally, but also professionally. As an intern for the International Program of US Together I got some great experience working with diplomacy and foreign relations related situations and issues. This further confirmed my appreciation for cross-cultural communication and relationships, so I could see myself working with something similar in the future but in a different manner. I plan to pursue a graduate degree in environmental science and I think it would be great if I could work within the environment and sustainability field in an international setting. So my internship gave me the international professional experience that I felt like I was lacking. Ultimately the STEP experience and funds were valuable as it allowed me to take this unpaid opportunity without worrying about how to pay for my living expenses. 

A picture from a virtual weekly meeting (I am the top left)

Over the past few months, I’ve been honored to benefit from the STEP Grant to help complete my STEP Signature Project. By pursuing an Internship at Urban Arts Space for my STEP Signature Project, I learned more about how arts institutions operate, learned how to create engaging and interesting virtual events, and improved my collaboration skills by working remotely. By planning exhibitions, planning virtual events, and conducting interviews with artists exhibiting at the gallery, I learned and grew as a student and a Buckeye.

Since the Fall of 2019, I’ve been an Exhibitions Intern at Urban Arts Space. Urban Arts Space is Ohio State’s student gallery, spanning from our main downtown location, our location on campus, called Hopkins Hall Gallery, and our newest endeavor, the Hybrid Arts Lab. During my junior year, between the Fall of 2019 and the Spring of 2020, I mainly worked as an Exhibitions Intern, planning and installing exhibitions across our galleries. Yet, at the beginning of the pandemic, I joined our Engagement Team and began a new segment of my role. Throughout my time under the support of STEP, I’ve been navigating working in an arts institution amidst a pandemic. This experience is something that has been stressful, scary, and tolling, yet working at Urban Arts Space has provided much-appreciated enthusiasm and purpose to my life. For the first time in my career, I’ve felt fully engrossed and appreciated at my place of work. By relying on the collaboration and communication of my team members, I’ve realized the importance of a team-like structure in a place of work. By working in an evolving, uncertain world, everyone at Urban Arts Space had to be patient and flexible with the uncertain future. Amidst these conditions, I felt like my co-workers and I were working with an important purpose of creating engagement and artistic inspiration during a dark time. Throughout my time under STEP’s support, I saw myself grow as a flexible, collaborative individual.

Specifically, work on Urban Art Space’s Engagement Team provided great personal transformation. Before March, I had conducted a few interviews for Ohio State’s radio station, but I had never conducted live interviews or conversations with multiple people. After March and throughout my semester with STEP, I conducted handfuls of recorded or live Zoom interviews with students, faculty, and community members. I wrote, coordinated, and facilitated each of these interviews, increasing my skills as a program coordinator and engagement specialist. Throughout the semester, I feel that I’ve transformed into a more confident, organized, and personable collaborator and person. Some of the interviews I organized this semester were particularly transformative. In particular, in October I facilitated an interview featuring two professors, one graduate student, and one staff member from Urban Arts Space. The interview was a promotion for a collaborative show between the two professors, the graduate student, and a group of Ohio State students. The interview involved a lot of moving parts and required more in-depth and thoughtful questions that engaged every interviewee in the conversation. My confidence as an interviewer and leader grew during this experience. I’m very grateful for the support of STEP and will look back on this transformative semester fondly.

The events that sparked transformation for me during my time supported by STEP were definitely the interviews I mentioned above, as well as weekly check-in meetings with my co-workers. Prior to the pandemic, we didn’t have weekly staff meetings with the full-time staff and student interns. Yet, I really appreciated the structure and communication these weekly staff meetings brought. In past internships, I’d been involved in weekly staff meetings, but in my role at Urban Arts Space, I felt like I had more of a purpose and place in these meetings. As an intern with lots of tasks to complete, I always had progress and accomplishments to report. These meetings created a sense of purpose and community for me as an intern.

As stated above, during my time supported by STEP, I joined the Engagement Team. Therefore, the boss that I reported to the most changed. I began meeting with the head of operations much more often, compared to the head of exhibitions. This relationship molded into a communicative, fruitful, and wonderful professional relationship. Instead of just seeing this boss during weekly team meetings and communicating via the occasional email exchange, we met once a week on Zoom to touch base. Having this meeting in my weekly schedule created built-in deadlines for me to complete tasks. Additionally, meeting one-on-one increased my morale as an employee, considering how much I’d missed face-to-face meetings during the pandemic.

Additionally, this boss provided guidance and feedback on the questions I prepared for each interview I conducted. Before sending the questions out to my interviewees, this boss read the questions over and provided much-appreciated feedback or critique. In the future, I look forward to having more communicative and strong work-place relationships with my coworkers at future jobs. By making time for one-on-one meetings, this boss and I strengthened our relationship and got to know one another as friends and not just co-workers. Throughout my internship this fall, I’ve realized the importance of communicating and checking-in with co-workers during the pandemic, or any other time when contact and communication are limited .

As I look forward to my post-graduate plans, I am very excited to apply my experience at Urban Arts Space to my future places of work. While supported by STEP, I grew as a communicator, collaborator, and artistic professional. By learning how to conduct professional interviews, enhancing my virtual and remote collaboration skills, and learning patience and flexibility while working through a pandemic, I have transformed into a stronger and more confident person. One of the values of working for Urban Arts Space is that the gallery partly student-run. Therefore, students have an influence and impact on what happens at the gallery. Therefore, when I enter into the workforce with my first full-time post-graduate job, I will have confidence and capability thanks to my time at Urban Arts Space. Additionally, learning how to successfully run an art gallery during a pandemic is a skill I never thought I would obtain. Yet, I am incredibly proud of the innovation and excellence my co-workers and I have achieved during these past nine months. As I begin interviewing for post-graduate positions, I know I’ll have fruitful lessons and anecdotes to share about my time working at Urban Arts Space.

As a community and as individuals, we have been tested and burdened in myriad difficult ways this semester. Working at Urban Arts Space with the support of STEP filled some of my missing needs for community, communication, and support. The organizations I will begin applying to work for are mostly art, city planning, and community planning based. Therefore, these organizations rely on their staff to reflect their values of engagement and community. Working at Urban Arts Space while supported by the STEP grant has provided me hands-on experience with art and community engagement. Therefore, my time at STEP has gifted me with fruitful and worthwhile professional and personal experience. As I begin my last semester at Ohio State, I will remember how fantastic and transformative it was to complete my STEP Signature Project.

Social Media Internship Turned Marketing & Editorial

This past semester I took on a fully remote internship with The Wink Initiative. My title was Social Media Intern, however with my work laptop and second monitor to help me, I did much more than post on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. By utilizing Slack for communication with my boss and coworkers and the project management software Asana, I was able to complete a variety of tasks independently, learn through research and spearhead several initiatives to contribute to the success of the business. I edited articles, modified content for SEO, published articles, and worked to improve the conversion rates for the three websites that the company runs. 

I feel that I had two major transformational feelings towards this position. The first was adapting to working remotely. I found that it was essential to communicate with my boss and the team when I needed guidance or opinions. Additionally, I learned that since I was working alone at home, it was my responsibility, not only to do the functions of my job position, but to learn in whatever ways that I could about what I was doing in order to understand the company. This was especially important because I was lacking the in-office experience where I imagine I would have learned a lot more about each coworker and their job duties. I found it was important to ask all questions, learn to work completely independently in order to have the confidence to start taking on new tasks or initiating projects. Finding the motivation to focus on work was also a struggle. I worked from my apartment bedroom at my desk and found that I often would need to take breaks to refocus my eyes or move around after spending so much time at my desk. I learned a lot about self-discipline, but also ensuring that I was being kind to my body. 

The second transformational experience I had was learning about things completely foreign to me. I have had social media experience from prior positions so that portion of my job was very comfortable. However, a majority of the work I did day to day involved many more marketing applications that I had not learned in other internships, jobs, or courses. I found myself learning a lot more than I had anticipated upon starting this position. As I mentioned, I learned about search engine optimization, A/B or split tests, domain ratings, spam scores, backlinks and a lot about content strategies overall. Had I not taken on this position, I would not have these skills today. I feel that these skills are very transferable and that I will be able to use these skills in various ways moving forward in my career. Additionally, I learned what marketing and editorial tasks I do not like doing. I found that I enjoyed some of the work and cannot say the same about others. This piece alone was transformational because I now know moving forward that there are certain job functions that would contribute to a negative job experience and I can now avoid positions with such job functions in the future. 

The first transformation I discussed came about mainly due to external factors. The Covid-19 pandemic allowed me to land this position remotely, as the company works out of LA. Due to the implications of the pandemic I found myself working from home rather than finding a local position and traveling to an office each day. I feel that the company had the appropriate resources to facilitate business effectively online and those resources are what enabled me to have a positive learning experience from working remotely. Had there not been constant communication via Slack messages, phone calls, video calls, comments on Asana, etc. It would be very hard to keep up with business and complete my assigned tasks. In positions I have held in the past, there had not been routine, scheduled meetings. In this position, I think what really allowed me to be able to communicate effectively, keep up with the business, and learn from coworkers were these meetings. Each Monday I would have a check-in call with my boss to discuss what I had done during the past week, what I wanted to learn, and what questions I had. It was also her time to discuss her expectations of me and what more she could offer as a mentor. In addition, our department held weekly meetings where we each screen-shared presentations explaining and denoting the past weeks business progress through each of our roles. Next we would have company meetings where any issues could be resolved, questions asked, and updates shared. Best of all, sometimes we would have virtual game days where I was granted the opportunity to connect with my coworkers in a fun activity to develop more of a relationship. Otherwise, my only interactions would be through messaging. These engagements really helped me to learn from others and showcase my progress as well. 

Not only were there resources available that allowed me to learn and grow as a person in this remote position, but my boss and other coworkers, after a certain point, would come to me with new ideas of things they thought I could take on. After proving to them I could work remotely effectively and efficiently, I was asked to initiate other projects. This is where I really took the time to research and spend time understanding how the gears of the business worked, and what I would need to understand in order to achieve success with each new initiative. I think the prodding to take on these new responsibilities really allowed me the space to take time learning and then showcasing the quality of work I could offer from working independently. I feel that despite the struggles of working from my bedroom, I was still offered enough space to learn and have the flexibility to do so despite being trusted to work on my own.  

My second transformation came unexpected. My boss would walk me through the tasks assigned to me on the daily. At first, these included social media posts and editing articles to be published on the company’s three websites. Once I got the hang of editing and did so in good time, my boss would assign me more things to do. Whether that was adding more tasks to my workload once I got efficient doing the task added on previously, or learning something new. My boss, in our weekly Monday meetings, would ask me what I wanted to learn next. I had a list of the things I did not understand or thought would be interesting to learn. Those things included SEO, domain rating, and more. After several weeks of learning new things, my list ran out. However my boss still asked what I wanted to learn. Since we work remotely and I have not physically seen the work she does, I asked – What tasks have I not covered that would be useful to learn for this job? She then was able to come up with a couple other tasks including split tests and spam score. I think having this relationship with my boss being focused on learning allowed me to make the most out of this experience and make positive contributions to the company. 

This experience has been extremely valuable for me. Not only was I able to almost double my working knowledge of marketing, but I was able to learn by doing. I learned transferable skills that I can utilize in any position moving forward. I want to work in the music industry doing marketing or promotions, or even open my own music venue one day. This experience has allowed me to have functional skills to carry out marketing communications in this industry and gives me a baseline to creating a successful website to drive traffic to a business, should I open a venue one day. These are skills I hadn’t known could be so important. Had the pandemic not closed up music businesses, meaning I wouldn’t be able to intern in that industry, and simultaneously opened up the opportunity to work remotely and land this marketing position, I would not have learned all that I have. 

In the same vein, due to the pandemic, I have learned so much about myself from working remotely. I have grown confidence to ask questions, a growing eagerness to learn, how to practice self-discipline outside of a work-office environment, how to maintain my overall health by working at home and staring at a screen all day. The list could go on and on. These are all important factors moving forward. I do not know what the world will look like post-vaccine. I do know that I am a step ahead of many other students. Having already had an experience working remotely for months makes me a better candidate for other remote internship opportunities. It shows future employers that I have achieved a level of discipline and responsibility for a length of time that many others have not. It also shows my eagerness to learn and to not give up when the specific industry I am interested in has no internship opportunities available. Additionally, I am unsure when the world will return to normal, if at all. This experience prepares me for job searching post-graduation, where I might be tasked to find a remote full-time position. I now know what I can achieve, and what I like and dislike in marketing. I am prepared to be an advocate for myself as I begin my career. 

The Twitter page I coordinated during the internship

Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project

During the past semester, my STEP Signature Project consisted of an internship. I had the opportunity to work for NBC Universal Pictures as their on-campus intern. During this internship I ran various social media accounts and conducted grass roots marketing of new movies and tv premiers for Universal Pictures. The goal with this signature project was to be able to learn more about the company and expand my career opportunities for post-graduation.

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

Throughout this project I learned quite a bit about the marketing field and what it takes to run social media accounts. I had been starting to consider this as a future career opportunity but I quickly learned this was not my specialty. I had always considered myself somewhat creative but I learned while working with other interns across the country the number of brilliant ideas that they were able to implement that I never would have thought of. When it comes to the business world, there are so many different areas that you can consider for a career post-graduation, I was really excited to learn about if this was a potential area for me. While I loved the film and TV industry, I learned the marketing and social media side of film was not ideal for me.

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 my biggest takeaways from this experience that led me to realize social media management might not be the best for my future was trying to come up with more creative ideas to market various movies. For example, as I was working towards creating different campaigns for our movies such as FREAKY, it was definitely difficult for me to come up with new and unique ideas. Part of my issues specifically with this semester as finding new ways to reach students during a COVID-19 era. With the uncertainty of university guidelines and the constant changes that were occurring around the world, it was difficult to come up with new grassroots marketing ideas. However, through all of these challenges I definitely believe I became more adaptable and resilient.

One of the other biggest takeaway moments during my project that helped lead to this transformative experience was having the opportunity to work with all of the other campus interns across the country. I was able to see the posts they make to social media, the events they were running and that inspired me with my own posts and events. I learned so much by just seeing what they were able to do on their campus that it helped me here at Ohio State.

Finally, having the opportunity to work remotely with a boss I only communicated with via email and phone was a phenomenal learning opportunity for me because of how quickly the world has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This working environment will likely still be present when I start my career in June so having the opportunity to work in it already will prove to be a huge asset when I enter the workforce. This is something that I never would have been able to experience without STEP.

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

This transformation is very significant to my life because given the high importance of social media within the business world right now. I would have been interested in potentially making more of a switch to this field within my career after graduation. As a finance major with a minor in retail studies, I was really interested in seeing if marketing was another I could potentially start my career in; however, I have now realized I might not be best fit for that area. With graduation in just a few months the timing of this project could not have come at a better time so I’m very thankful for STEP to give me this opportunity.

Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. 

For my STEP Signature Project, I interned with the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. As an intern, I researched health policy issues such as addiction, attended weekly staff meetings, and analyzed and compiled data related to health issues. I finished my internship by presenting a final project about how Ohio policymakers can encourage pregnant women with substance use disorder to seek out addiction treatment.

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

This internship was a wonderful experience. I loved my coworkers, the organization, and the work I did. Some things I learned about myself through this experience are that I am task-oriented, enjoy working with a small, driven team, and like researching health policy. My internship was virtual and very organized. I received tasks via email on a weekly basis. I learned through this experience that I am a very task-oriented person and prefer working on a task basis versus a set number of hours per day. Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) is a small, nonprofit with just over ten full-time employees. I liked working on a small team since I was able to get to know all of my coworkers personally. I also enjoyed completing research on health policy issues. Ohio has one of the worst health outcomes in America so it was very interesting to learn how other states effectively tackle health problems.

My perspective about public health widened because of this internship. I strongly believe in the importance of legislation to improve health issues. Policy is a long-lasting, sustainable way to create a positive impact. From this experience, I became better at asking questions. There is always more depth to a story or situation than appears. It is important to ask questions to truly understand a problem so that an effective solution can be found.

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 key aspect of this internship that taught me that I am task-oriented was the virtual format. I worked from home for this internship and never went into the office. Instead of working an hourly schedule, I was given tasks to complete. I ended up working about 15 hours per week but I liked the format of receiving a task, completing it, and then getting a new one. For my internship, I met with every staff member one-on-one via zoom. I was able to learn about their position, their journey to HPIO, and ask questions. I really felt like part of the team since I developed a relationship with everyone. Every staff member at HPIO was exceptionally driven which helped to elevate my work ethic. From these one-on-one meetings and our weekly staff meetings, I learned that I like working in a smaller work atmosphere which will be very helpful in my future job search.

As an intern, I was asked to research many health policy areas that HPIO was considering delving into. One of my favorite research tasks was about medical respite homes since one just opened in Columbus. Medical respite homes are for homeless individuals to live and recover once they are discharged from the hospital. I researched metrics of success for the new medical respite home in Columbus. I really enjoyed this research task because I was not familiar with medical respite homes and the importance of them. I like learning about new things so I appreciate the opportunity HPIO gave to me to research new, exciting public health initiatives.

Before this internship, I was not sure if I would enjoy working with policy. I typically prefer face-to-face interactions with community members who need assistance as opposed to policy that is more removed from community interactions. By researching policies that have had a positive impact on health outcomes, I began to realize the long-lasting impact of policy. For example, my final presentation focused on pregnant women with substance use disorder and how policymakers can encourage them to seek treatment. While researching what policy other states have, I learned about the effectiveness of family treatment facilities. Women are less likely to seek addiction treatment as compared to men because of their obligations such as children. Family-centered treatment facilities increase the likelihood that women will seek out treatment since their children can stay with them. Ohio can use policy to prioritize family treatment facilities to help address pregnant women using drugs. Through my final project, I was able to learn about how policy can help alleviate public health issues.

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

This transformation is very valuable to me because I am about to graduate and join the job force. Any experience that allows me to learn more about myself and my interests helps me to find my “dream job”. I am so glad that I learned that I enjoy working with smaller teams because now I know to focus on applying to jobs at smaller, start-up organizations. This change is also significant because it helped me to solidify my specialty for my graduate program. I was choosing between two specialty tracks that I am passionate about. After this internship and my transformation, I know that the policy track is right for me. By growing and evolving, I learn more about myself, my interests, and my goals. I am excited to see where these changes take me. I am so grateful for this internship because I really learned a lot about myself. 

I met with my team once in person for a socially distanced lunch at a local park. We took this photo and only realized after that we look a little intimidating 🙂

This past summer, I had the privilege to participate in the STEP Signature Project via an internship at Matrix Psychological Services. There, I was a Patient Services Coordinator. Among several responsibilities, one was to assist new patients with finding a therapist that is a good fit for them based on availability, specialty, and over-all fit. Additionally, we are an active crisis line for our patients. I was trained in taking crisis calls and would speak to those in crisis to act as an in between to get them connected to a therapist.

This STEP internship truly was transformational due to it taking place during COVID-19. The practice had to rethink every interaction with patients in order to protect staff while still maintaining convenience on the patients’ ends. This meant adopting a patient portal, building a phone tree so that we may work remotely, and overall taking the job day-by-day as our roles and responsibilities shifted. I never imagined working during a time like this. Working with others to maintain a safe environment took on a whole new meaning; I never imagined that a position in an office would be so precarious.

I had the privilege to work with my coworkers as a team in a whole new way. I also got to watch a small business navigate staying afloat during covid-19. However, I believe that the most impactful aspect of this position was being able to witness the mental-health field transform, and being a part of that change. The therapists at our office had never previously conducted teletherapy before. It’s a new approach, and many never expected to have to take it on. Additionally, crisis calls shifted in that myself and my coworkers had a more active role than ever before. We no longer had therapists working in another room. Being so far apart, it takes more time to get someone on the phone, and as result I learned how to better engage with a person in crisis.

I also got to learn about the inner workings of insurance. This I believe to be a necessary life skill, however understanding how healthcare providers interact with insurance companies is incredibly confusing. Matrix is unique in that it is an EAP, or Employee Assistance Program. This means that Matrix contracts with companies both local and nationwide to provide free mental health services for their employees. Mental health tends to be expensive and oftentimes difficult to find. Being a part of a company whose purpose is to make navigating easier for the patients has been a truly rewarding experience. If the patient is outside of Ohio, then we find a referral for them, verify that they are accepting new patients, and basically do a lot of the headache work that comes with finding a provider in the healthcare field. I’ve also been able to understand how claims work, what questions to ask, and overall how to navigate the insurance side of the mental health field.

I also got to know many therapists and pick their brains about why they chose this profession and specialties. Psychology is interesting due to the fluidity of the field; even those with the same title whether it by psychologist of LISW so some other licensure may have a wide variety in both approach and specialty. Working at Matrix, I was able to ask these therapists about how they developed preferences for one approach or another, and observe what a good fit and relationship looks like with a patient. It has been a wonderful learning opportunity, especially as we as a world have adjusted to remote working and remote interactions.

This internship has been valuable for me in that it is the reason I was able to narrow down the graduate degree I want to pursue as well as map out my career goals. I now know that I want to be a licensed practitioner, and I intend to work with children of younger ages. Children are particularly interesting because oftentimes they have not developed the ability to express what it is they’re feeling or explain their behavior. Indirect approaches need to be taken to connect and understand the patient enough to make a diagnosis. Additionally, I’ve learned that very few therapists specialize with younger age groups for this very reason. My internship at Matrix has helped to guide me in what I want to do with my life.

For my STEP Project, I had the opportunity to intern virtually with Greif this summer as a marketing intern on their ComEx team.  Greif is a global manufacturer of industrial packaging, and I was able to expand upon my knowledge of marketing as I dove into this new industry.  Some of the highlights of my internship were helping ComEx with a deep dive analysis of several industries, initiating a sales enablement project, and participating in a steel drum Webinar.

My STEP Signature Project really allowed me to expand upon my understanding of marketing and how marketing impacts the world in many different countries.  I was able to find ways to improve their website, which has product pages for over 40 countries on it.  By doing so, I was able to see how the many different products that Greif manufactures are used in industries such as foods, agrochemicals, flavors and fragrances, and many more in each of those countries.  This allowed me to see just how impactful my work as a marketer can be since it reaches a global scale.  I realized that my work in the business world has significant meaning as it stretches across the world, which allowed me to realize that I am passionate about marketing and do enjoy utilizing what I’ve learned in the classroom in the real world.

The key events and relationships during my STEP Signature Project that led to transformation were research on several industries, initiating a sales enablement project, participating in a steel drum webinar, and meetings/coffee chats with colleagues around the world.  I completed research on industries including agrochemicals, flavors and fragrances, and foods, and learned about the trends and key strategies of key players in each market.  I was learning about companies in NA, APAC, EMEA, and LATAM, and how similar or different trends are in each region.  This greatly expanded my view of the world, as I had never done such in depth research in these regions.

One of the most influential projects I worked on was a sales enablement project, where I was tasked with researching several vendors and gathering a cross—functional team to evaluate which cloud-based platform would work best in enhancing our sales team.  This project lasted the entire length of my internship, and I learned all about sales enablement and its benefits to a team.  This led to transformation, as I had to initiate the entire project and step out of my comfort zone in order to help educate our team about the project.  I also participated in a steel drum Webinar and practiced my public speaking as I presented an introduction to prospective customers.

Lastly, the meetings and coffee chats I had with colleagues all over the world were incredibly impactful to me.  I was able to meet many people in different regions and hear about their field and how it impacts the entire company.  This made me realize that I would really enjoy working for a global company, where I can interact with others in different countries.  Everyone was so friendly to me, and excited to have a marketing intern on board!

This transformation was significant since it allowed me to come to many realizations about my major and career interests.  I realized that I do really enjoy marketing, as I learned a lot this summer with every project I worked on.  Prior to this experience, all I knew about marketing was in the classroom, so I am glad that I was able to expand upon everything I’ve learned in the past few years at Ohio State.  I also learned more about sales through the sales enablement project, which is very useful as I will be starting a full-time sales role upon graduation in May.  I am excited that I can use all that I’ve learned in my STEP experience toward my future career.