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

My STEP project consisted of an internship at PNC Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I spent the summer living in Pittsburgh while getting the opportunity to learn about the internal operations of PNC as a Retail Lending Operations Intern.

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

I think getting the opportunity to move away from home for the summer was a very transformative experience. I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life, so getting this opportunity to be in a new city was very interesting as I got a look into a post-college lifestyle. I got an opportunity to experience a corporate job while having a life balance in Pittsburgh. I picked up and continued new hobbies like working out and playing the guitar. I was able to see that even though a corporate job wasn’t the most exciting thing, a good outside life filled with friends and hobbies truly create a positive experience.

At my job I learned a lot in meetings which changed my view on corporate environment. I saw opportunities for growth as well as many things that was done great. This job opened my eyes to my future, which will guide me in the right direction post-graduation.

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

Starting with the Intern summit at the beginning of the experience. Every intern for PNC in the country met in Pittsburgh for a 2-day summit where we got the chance to meet each other. This was a cool experience because I got the chance to meet many fellow interns and learn about their backgrounds. These interactions made me very excited to get started with the internship.

Following that I would say my first week in the office were very transformative. I witnessed and experienced both things I like and wasn’t a fan of. We got to be in a nice office in downtown Pittsburgh with a great view of the city. But something I noticed right away was the lack of people in the office. It was mostly all interns all week because most employees work from home a few days a week. This made me think about the real culture of the corporate world and truly switched my view up.

Then my daily interactions with my fellow interns on my team improved the experience of the internship. There was a lot of down time between meetings and projects, so interacting with my team was a great time throughout the summer. They always told us to make connections throughout our job, and not only did I make these connections, I made some friends. We even would hang out outside of work which was super cool. I saw that you spend a lot of time with your co-workers, so it’s important that when you start working that you try to socialize and create these friendships.

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

This was a very significant summer for me. Working for a bank and living the corporate lifestyle stirred up a lot of feelings, both positive and negative. I would have days that would fly by because I was busy, but also would be days where I question what I’m doing and spending time on. So, with that I tried to remind myself constantly that this is a short-term experience, and even though it seems like you might not be getting a lot out of it, you are. I would say overall I’m happy I got this experience because I have a stronger ability to understand what I like in a job.

One of my goals this summer was to be myself. It sounds corny but I’ve had too many experiences where I try to be someone I’m not and shield myself. So, this summer I wanted to be professional obviously, but also act in a way that made me feel comfortable. I felt like I was successful in this and became a much better leader as a result. As it pertains to my future, I’m not quite sure what I’ll end up doing post-college. I think about it every day and it’s very scary not knowing, but I have faith that it’ll work out. I think something that is client facing like sales would be a good fit for me, but I’ll continue to search around for something that will make me happy. And at the end of the day, I want to make sure I’m content with my occupation. I realized after this summer that chasing the money isn’t worth doing something you may not like. So, with all that knowledge from my summer experience I’ll go into my senior year of college and learn as much as possible.