For my STEP Project, I interned with the Author Marketing team at Sage. While there, I assisted the marketing team in developing marketing strategies to support authors published at Sage or hoping to be published at Sage. I worked alongside the editorial and communications teams as well to complete these tasks.

Over the course of this internship, I learned a lot about what it means to work in marketing and academic publishing, and I also learned a lot about myself. My view of publishing for a long time was only that of literary publishing and books that I was reading in my personal time. In the world of academic publishing, there is work being done daily to help researchers get their findings published. I used to think I definitely wanted to work in literary publishing, but after my summer with Sage, I realized that it felt good to be part of a team that was pushing forward the newest research of diverse minds all over the world. I didn’t know how much work goes on behind the scenes to get things in our laps as readers.

I also learned so much more about the marketing field while I was in action. Watching how the things we learn in class are actually used in a job solidified that marketing is perfect for me. There is a mix of creativity, strategy, and analysis that makes the job exciting, but nothing ever felt impossible. This experience also changed how I viewed the corporate work field.

My supervisor and the people I worked with most often were the best support team and really took the time to make sure I understood the work I was doing and how it affected the company. This changed how I thought about typical corporate jobs. I didn’t think I would be cared for so much while still being pushed to succeed and expand my skills for the future. It was a great first experience in the work industry and made me know what to look for when I choose a job after graduating.

As this was a remote position, I also learned a lot about how I like to work. I definitely enjoyed the freedom of working remotely. It allowed me to live in between cities, visiting friends and family more frequently than otherwise, which was great for this summer. However, I missed some of the connection you get from an in-person job. In the future, I would like to look for hybrid opportunities to account for both of these things. I am lucky that these are very popular in the workforce right now and I’m happy I was able to realize that there are good and bad things about working remotely.

The culture of Sage also helped me realize that how a company supports you is an important factor in how you perform. I was given the opportunity to take control of projects, talk to people from many other teams, and was encouraged to reach out to senior managers. This welcoming environment helped me feel more connected to the work I was doing. Working for a company that genuinely cares about you and want to support you made it easier to perform well and to ask for more opportunities rather than being scared about messing up.

These revelations have been paramount for me, specifically in the work field. I feel confident that I am on the right path, and I would not be able to say that without this experience. I also know what to look for when I am looking for a job post-grad. I am grateful that my internship was taught me a lot about marketing, but also how a positive work-environment should look like and I want to take these findings with me into my next adventure!

For my STEP Signature Project, I chose to do a summer internship. Starting in June 2023, I began working for Crowe LLP as a Valuations Intern in the company’s Advisory practice. Located in Denver, Colorado I both worked and lived in the city.

Throughout my STEP Signature Project, I learned a great deal about myself, the world outside of Columbus, and more specifically how to be a professional. When thinking about my personal growth this summer, I had a fair number of opportunities and moments where I was able to learn and develop who I am as a person. Living alone for the first time in my life, and living outside of Columbus, Ohio for the first time since I was 10-weeks old, there were many adjustments to be made. One of the key parts of my personal growth this summer was my growing appreciation for being outdoors and in nature. I was able to discover a deep passion for taking walks, going on hikes, and taking the time to step back from work and the stresses of the world. This also greatly reduced my stress throughout the days and led to another key source of personal development: learning to be patient and accept what I cannot control. Being raised in the generation of “instant gratification”, I have always had a hard time with waiting for things to happen or accepting that I simply cannot control them. This summer, I truly believe that my mindset shifted into one of patience, understanding, and acceptance. Furthermore, having time outside of Columbus and living in downtown Denver on my own were transformative experiences in my understanding of the world outside my own. Experiencing the plight of locals in a gentrified community, what it’s truly like to live like an adult with few support systems and meet people who come from all different backgrounds truly helped me expand my world view. My transformation into becoming more patient and understanding, and my discovery of my love for the outdoors, not only were fantastic for my mental health but also my growth as a human being.

Furthermore, I also greatly developed my skills as a professional in the workplace. This summer was my first time working in an office, and I truly feel that I had to learn how to interact with colleagues and clients in an entirely different way from the work-from-home  lifestyle that I had learned in the past. Shaking hands, making eye contact, and constantly being willing to be pulled into new and exciting projects is the name of the in-person game, and I truly feel that I learned and developed all these skills this summer. Not only did I learn how to act in an office, but I also learned how to take the knowledge I have learned in the classroom. After taking core business administration classes and my upper-level finance courses, I had a great deal of theoretical knowledge that I was eager to apply to real-world problems. This STEP Signature Project allowed me to do just that by applying valuation methodologies as an Advisory Valuations intern. Working in various industries such as Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Construction / Home Building I was also able to understand unique qualities about each different company, valuation request, and industry.

One of the key events that led to my personal transformation was my very first solo hike. After arriving in Colorado, I made it a personal goal to try and hike at least once a weekend. My very first weekend, I was able to make it to the Chautauqua Trail in Boulder, Colorado and hike a beautiful trail. I started and quickly realized most people around me were with a buddy or a dog. So, I just listened to music and made my way to the top. When I reached it, I really felt a profound sense of confidence and satisfaction, and I felt totally comfortable. I realized that this was what I really enjoyed doing and where I felt most comfortable.

Another key event this summer that was a true event of transformation for the summer was taking public transportation as my main form of transportation this summer. While to many this may not seem like a major decision, for me this was a way to completely open up my eyes to the world around me. In the past, my high school didn’t have a bus and I grew up in a suburb, so I have been driving pretty much everywhere since I was 16 years old. And besides the occasional vacation, I rarely had taken public transportation, and I had definitely never used it for daily tasks like getting to work and groceries. I learned what it was like to have to plan out my days and my next move meticulously, as well as respect and monitor my surroundings.

Furthermore, a key interaction throughout this summer was that I worked in an office for the first time ever. Ever since I arrived on campus in the Fall of 2020, I have been dealing with the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic. I worked virtually for multiple companies, took multiple classes online, interviewed on Microsoft Teams, and have done the majority if not all of my employment tasks online. This summer, my experience changed entirely. I had the fortune of working for a company in the hybrid model, but I worked in-person four days a week. This new task of coming into the office everyday I thought gave me many unique privileges that I had not been able to experience before and really maximized my growth and enjoyment throughout the whole summer. My interactions with my colleagues occurred so much more often than in the past, and our conversations were more meaningful than I had ever imagined having with a co-worker. I felt that my opinions on the workplace and my outlook for my career have been entirely transformed.

I believe that I have fundamentally changed as a person after my experiences through my STEP Signature Project this past summer. I’ve grown as a professional, as a person, and as a member of society. Regarding my professional development throughout this project, I believe that this transformation will likely be one of the most important gains of my summer. As a 4^th year student, I will soon be entering the job force and it is my opinion that the professional development I underwent this summer will be invaluable as I do just that. Learning how to act in an office setting, learning how to network and interact with clients, and most importantly, learning the technical skills behind the job itself are all extremely important attributes that I gained during my STEP signature project. These essential skills will carry me through my professional career and also help me get the start that I need.

Additionally, I believe my growth as a person will serve me well for the rest of my life no matter the environment I am in. My worldview has expanded and I have found a passion outside of the 9-5 that I believe will help me find happiness and comfort. Having an expanded worldview I believe will particularly help me as I move into the post-graduate phase of my life: searching for new friends, looking for new opportunities, and trying to fit in in a new environment. After this summer, I feel confident and prepared to explore all that the world has to offer.

For my STEP Signature project, I interned at the Southeastern Ohio Legal Aid. Legal Aid provides assistance to low-income Ohioans that need legal representation. Specifically, my internship was with the Public Benefits team. This team specializes in appellate cases involving Medicaid, social security, food stamps, and other government benefits. My responsibilities included conducting legal research, writing legal memos, and speaking to clients.

This experience greatly influenced my life trajectory. While I always knew that I wanted to go to law school, I did not know what kind of law I wanted to practice. Since there are so many kinds of law, I wanted to start with something that benefitted the public. Legal Aid was exactly what I was looking for since they help people in need while working in several different fields of law. During my internship, I was assigned specific cases to review and research the issues within them. Afterwards, I would write a recommendation on whether Legal Aid should take the case or not. Something I did not anticipate was how difficult it would be deciding whether or not to recommend help for a case. I wanted to help everyone that came into our office, but since we only have a certain number of attorneys, that was not possible. However, I made sure to rigorously research every single case so as many people as possible could receive aid. Additionally, I provided resources for pro bono attorneys and other forms of relief to people that we could not help.

My time at Legal Aid showed me that while public aid organizations like Legal Aid are doing their best, they need a lot more resources than they receive. As I mentioned above, with only a limited amount of funding, we were forced to deny several people assistance. With more funding, Legal Aid would be able to hire more attorneys, have smaller caseloads per attorney, and obtain resources to help more people. This is especially important because people will have someone to turn to when their public benefits are denied.

Additionally, my internship instilled my belief in the necessity of social services. I have believed that everyone is entitled to a basic standard of living. However, things like Medicare and Food Stamps are often looked down upon in society and seen as unnecessary “handouts.” My internship exemplified just how wrong this belief is. I met countless people who were working harder than anyone I had ever met and still not making enough to keep food on the table or their medical bills out of collections. The services that they were denied were essential for them to get back on their feet.

One of my favorite experiences was going to eviction court at the Franklin County Municipal Court. While I was there, I met with clients, judges, and got to watch the entire process. It was exciting to watch court cases in action and made me realize that I want to advocate in court for my clients in the future. I got to see exactly how the lawyers processed new clients, came up with a legal strategy, and implementing that strategy at court. While Legal Aid is typically unable to prevent a client from being evicted, we often are able to delay the eviction date. This gives the client much needed time to figure out a new place to stay and remove their belongings. The managing attorney of evictions for Legal Aid told me something that stuck with me, his goal was not to avoid eviction for most cases, but rather to keep people off of the street. Most of our clients have not paid rent and are being lawfully evicted. We are simply helping people to land on their feet.

After fighting for people to get the benefits that they desperately needed, I knew that working in the public sector is something that I want to do for the rest of my life. Although it is not the job that would give me the most money or recognition in the legal field, this experience made me realize that working to help those less fortunate would be the most fulfilling career path for me.

1.This past summer I had the opportunity to intern at Nationwide as a Personal Lines Field Product Intern. During my time, I was able to work in a corporate setting while getting the chance to do impactful work through daily policy and agency review requests, our summer long capstone project, and networking with professionals throughout the whole company. At the end of the summer, I gladly accepted an offer to continue working throughout the school year.

2. I went into the internship with zero expectations for how I thought the summer would go. Although I had zero expectations, I had objectives for the internship that I wanted to complete, which included always giving my best effort and attitude, networking with as many people as possible, learning as much as I could through asking questions, and ultimately showing that I deserve to have an offer to return at the end. All these mentioned objectives above were a challenge for me, but I learned a lot about myself in the process.

The three main things that I learned about myself were my willingness to work hard, my perseverance, and lastly my ability to step out of my comfort zone. During summer, nobody wants to wake up at 7 a.m. and start working a new job in an industry where you have limited knowledge. Although this may be the case, I was ready to attack every day with a willingness to work hard and learn. I learned more about insurance and how to work in the corporate world more than ever this summer. Next, during our summer long capstone project, I ran into many challenges that frustrated me. It was easy to feel defeated and want to quit, but I persevered and gave the best presentation I ever have before. Lastly, I learned that it is not too hard to go out of your comfort zone even if you are introverted or nervous. I was able to network with hundreds of professionals throughout the company and leave an impression on them. Additionally, I asked more questions than I have ever even considered in a classroom setting and it could not have been more beneficial for myself. I saw all three of these traits grow and strengthen over this internship.

3. The first event that showed my willingness to work hard happened halfway through the summer. One week I was given the responsibility to complete five agency reviews, a policy review while also balancing my capstone project and various intern events throughout the week. This was a challenge of time management because I had to work efficiently and effectively to ensure all this work would get done. The way that I went about completing all this work was through planning. I looked ahead at my calendar and saw what free time I had and how long it would take me to complete all these tasks without falling behind. I learned a lot about how I work on a deadline, and how I can handle pressure. Through my willingness to work hard I was able to complete all my assignments accurately, while balancing intern events and working on the capstone project.

Next, I saw a growth in my ability to persevere when faced with adversity. The capstone project was given to us with not many guidelines to follow and not a certain direction to go. This was initially a challenge that I faced because I did not know as much about the insurance world as some of the other interns did because they had prior experience. It was frustrating because every time I came up with an idea it felt like it was shot down right away, and I did not exactly know what to do. I thought that I was never going to be able to find anything worth presenting on, and I thought that others on the team would not think I was worthy to get a return offer. I came in the next week with a clear mind and finally stumbled onto an idea thanks to the help of asking questions to my manager and others on the team. My idea to present on ended up being a great success and many people reached out to me after to get access to my work and tell me that I did a great job presenting. Having all that happened made me feel so relieved that I persevered through the adversity and still gave it my all even with challenges. In the past, I might have quit or gave up on problems that I was faced with. So, all in all, I saw major growth in my perseverance.

Lastly, I saw a change in my ability to go out of my comfort zone. Sometimes it is hard for me to open up to new people or ask questions in front of a room of people. I knew that this had to change for the summer and the rest of my life. I wanted to make a good impression on others around me, so I decided to be willing to meet anyone and everyone. This worked out well because I was able to network with over hundreds of Nationwide professionals. Below is a picture of one of our many networking events. One person helped me with getting out of my comfort zone by coming up to me first. She was very friendly, and I felt comfortable going to her with any problems that I was having or just to talk. We stayed in contact the whole summer getting lunch multiple times together too. I felt like I made a great connection during my time this summer, and I do not think that would have happened had I not been determined to get out of my shell. This change is something that I will continue for the rest of my life.

4. I think the growth in all three of those traits of mine will be impactful for the rest of my professional career. After I am done with school, I will be working for the rest of my life and that will not change. It is important to have a willingness to work hard and show up every day with a good attitude. If I want to advance in my career and move up the ranks, then I will have to show that I am worthy to do that through hard work. Additionally, no matter how much you dislike them, there will always be challenges that you face in your life. It is not about how many you are faced with, but how you respond to them. Being able to persevere through being faced with adversity will always need to be a trait of mine. It is okay to fail and mess up, but the most important thing is how you respond to failure and learn from it. Lastly, as nerve-racking as going out of your comfort zone can be, if I want to succeed, I am going to have to take risks. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. I am always going to have to network and meet new people and ask questions. Being able to step outside of your normal routine and change your ways is important and necessary for the rest of my professional life.

My step signature project was an internship at Wells Fargo where I got to work with a team of financial advisors. Within the internship, there were projects, weekly check in/development meetings, manager call meetings, city based product/update meetings, connection meetings, and developmental activities. The projects mainly consisted of excel work where I consolidated or updated information or created something in response to a team need. 

From this internship I learned more about what I value in terms of work and life. This internship gave direct experience, and with it I was able to come to conclusions about what I would want to look for long term in my career. I found that I valued people more than I thought and realized that they really can make or break an experience. I worked and connected with numerous great people and that made the experience quite fulfilling. This culture fostered by the people also directly contradicted my assumptions on big bank culture. While of course not all places are good or bad, this place gave me proof that there does exist good in the business world. 

This internship also showed me what I might struggle with in my work life. Wealth management is quite rewarding when a person is great at it and quite fulfilling if one is passionate. I came to realize that the role may not be one of my strong suits. I don’t like the idea of searching and convincing people to be my client. The biggest aspect of the business is sales and I don’t like the idea of being a salesman. I also don’t feel comfortable having my livelihood/results be dictated by factors beyond my control like other people. This is especially so when considering I’m not the most traditional person and that may not be well received by the client and may also cause me not to get clients at all. I also don’t like the methodologies constructed to make “connections” since they seem forced or inauthentic. This makes a job where I am implicitly forced to used these methods a strain on my mental and being. I can’t see myself being successful in a world contingent on relationships with people that have particular needs that I usually don’t tend to (or don’t want to tend to in  a job setting). 

The main event that made me realize this was the day to day activities of my team. They were on the phone everyday, almost hourly. They took time to either call their clients themselves, for their own reasons, or accept the calls from the clients. It truly was a client focused business. Pair that with the talk of sales and the business being strongly about relationships and I see a situation not up my alley. The best advisors are people that go out of their way to maintain and provide value in a relationship. That’s not something I think I would be the best at. I also don’t feel comfortable having relationships be the core and central piece of my business and have my fate be dictated by another, especially since there is an implicit ultimatum to appeal to the clients or lose business. Relationships are fine in general, however. With this knowledge, I can plan my next moves better than before. 

The various interactions with people throughout the internship made me think the way I do now about people. My first week of the internship was a training week with other interns. Those interns were such good people and we all got along quite well. The leaders who lead the week and spoke to us were also quite accepting and valuable. The people that I later met in my city echoed these same attributes. People from different roles within the firm all were welcoming and informative to a high degree. They made the experience one that I couldn’t possibly hate which influenced my new perspective. 

Another event that shaped my new way of thinking is the work I had to do. At times, my team leader would tell me to do research on a stock of a company. This is something that I thought was the core of my interest in finance. I realized that it is, but my interest isn’t as big as I thought. The thought of doing stock research extensively wasn’t as appealing as I thought. I like to research information on the world and on companies but not by a high degree. This makes investment related roles questionable in terms of my future.

These changes are important for my decisions involving my next steps in life. I now have more information that I can use to decide on a career and a company. It narrows my search and brings light to my actual values which will make it easier to find where I align. Without this experience, I don’t think I could’ve come to the realizations that I’ve come to now. With that, I would say it was a truly transformative experience. 

For my STEP project, I was able to live in Chicago for the summer and gain valuable internship experience. I worked as a summer analyst for PNC within their Capital Markets group, which is reflective of my studies at Ohio State University.

I think that this summer, during my project, I learned a massive amount about myself and the world around me. I think that the most important thing that I learned is the way in which I work, what motivates me, and the type of environment that I want to work in as a professional. I now have a better understanding about the balance of work/free time that I am aspiring for in my career. Additionally, I think that I have realized that I will prioritize money a bit less than the culture in which I am working. During my internship this summer I realized how much the people around me helped motivate and improve the work that I was doing.

There were plenty of examples of meaningful events and relationships that I made over the summer during my signature project. From the work that I did during my internship to the people that I was able to meet who work in the world of finance, I learned so much about my new career. I think that these interactions and experiences have led to an extremely transformational time in my life and career.

First, the people that I met have been wildly influential to me in both an educational way about the world of banking and finance, but also in terms of sharing advice from their own experiences and perspectives. I took every opportunity that I could to take time to connect with people at the bank. I enjoyed picking their brain about the different situations that I would have to deal with as well as the trajectory that they experienced with their career. I tried to absorb as much as possible from employees ranging from new hires all the way up to senior management.

Additionally, I had the opportunity to do meaningful work that helped advance my team towards our goals. I applied all of the lessons and knowledge that I have accumulated in school to the real world, which was an extremely meaningful experience. To be able to see what all of my education has been preparing me for was extremely transformational and I am eternally grateful for this experience.

These transformations are massively important to my life, especially in terms of my career. Before this past summer, I had little to no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but my experience at PNC helped me figure it all out. I am now confident in my decisions that I have made, and I am extremely excited to continue my career in banking.

My main goal for my STEP signature project was to try to absorb as much information as I could in order to help me make a decision for my next steps professionally. From all of the work that I was able to do over the summer mixed with all of the mentors that I was able to gain, I can confidently say that I did just that.

I interned for 14 weeks at Caesar Creek Software (CC-SW) for my STEP signature project. While at CC-SW, I completed several training modules, worked towards reproducing a vulnerability with a team, and presented my results to engineers.

I gained confidence and experience during my internship at CC-SW. Despite doing well in classes and being involved with student organizations, I used to doubt my reverse engineering, software engineering, and teamwork abilities. Learning, focusing on, and practicing various concepts and skills has strengthened my competence as an engineer and given me proof that I could succeed in the cybersecurity or software industries after graduation. I learned and grew a lot from injecting a DLL to manipulate program behavior, implementing a simple network protocol in Python, searching for vulnerabilities, and more. I enjoyed working in a team with members dedicated to completing our project and an environment with knowledgeable engineers who were happy to point me in the right direction to learning more. While I still feel nervous about graduation, I am proud of my capability to produce value and look forward to future computer science opportunities.

I grew from my interactions with the interns I carpooled with. I learned strategies for reverse engineering, researching, and being more productive (surprisingly, taking breaks can be helpful). They pushed me to eat lunch, reexamine problems from different perspectives, and more. Talking to them helped me complete the training modules, progress on a vulnerability research project, and better understand computer science. Talking with them also gave me a better sense to expect in my life after college.

My Learning Leader challenged me to learn more from the training modules and reviewed my performance at the end. From encouraging me to gain a deeper understanding of how computers work at a low level to teaching me core industry skills, I learned a lot under his guidance. He clarified concepts, fostered my research skills, and demanded high-quality code. Learning, applying, and practicing under my Learning Leader helped me improve my technical skills and grow as an engineer. His review reflected my growth and revealed areas to improve upon.

My project team members were and are an inspiration. They demonstrated a breadth of reverse and software engineering skills. They were very knowledgeable and supported my progress toward communicating with the device we were researching. They showed how talking with other people could result in making progress and also were a great group to work with on producing a presentation. Everyone’s dedication to finding vulnerabilities, outputting quality code, and teaching others has shaped my attitude toward group work and what I expect of work.

My time at CC-SW helped me gain confidence in my abilities and reinforced my love for learning. While I have decided to pursue graduate studies, the skills and experience I gained at CC-SW will be helpful during and after graduate school. Working with a team, producing good code, solving problems independently, and sharing knowledge will be part of my work regardless of where I go. Moreover, this experience helped me develop surety in my abilities and future.

This summer I had the privilege of interning for Kohl’s in their marketing department on their Brand Strategy team in Milwaukee, WI. As a Brand Strategy Intern, I had a summer long project where I conducted a comprehensive competitive analyses of top industry rivals. This allowed me to uncover strategic opportunities to enhance Kohl’s company positioning and capitalize on market trends. I also was able to create a comprehensive social media and marketing campaign for 2024 Women’s History Month through the crafting of strategy briefs.

When reflecting on my STEP project, I think one of the biggest things I realized is how calculated everything is within business. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect stepping into a corporate environment, however it quickly registered to me that every decision was thought out and backed with a tremendous amount of research. For example, research and studies were done to figure out what type of words would be more efficient in getting consumers to click on a product or make a purchase.

In terms of myself, I understood early within my internship that I love to build relationships. I constantly found myself wanting to network and connect with people on different teams to understand what they did and how it contributed to the work at Kohl’s. I took time out of my day to build relationships with coworkers and fellow interns. This allowed me to grow in my understanding of how a business works cross functionally.

I found my passion for networking and building relationships throughout my summer long project of conducting a competitive analysis and seeking strategies to be implemented at Kohl’s. To begin my project, I felt I needed to gain insight from leaders in areas I was looking at. For example, I was researching what our top industry competitors did for Pride Month, I felt the need to meet with our senior leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion to gain their perspective on certain initiatives. I found myself enjoying these conversations and felt they were enabling me to be more successful in my position.

Creating this comprehensive competitive analysis was not easy, I lacked direction and information. When first receiving the project, the instructions were incredibly broad, and I felt quite lost in where to start and how to go about researching. This forced me to venture out of my comfort zone as I had to reach out to my managers for guidance and advice on where to begin and what resources to use. This was the start of an in-depth relationship with my managers as I started to become more comfortable with them. I realized I could reach out for help, and it encouraged me to put a lot of effort into my relationships and grow closer with my team.

Towards the end of my project when I started focusing on making recommendations to the Kohl’s corporations strategy plans led me to understand the hard work going into business decisions. I couldn’t just come to conclusions quickly; I had to do a lot of research and see what was effective within the industry in both sales and consumer reactions. The patience this took was a key aspect of how I came to understand and respect the drive behind business decisions.

Learning more about the patience and detailed research associated with business decisions is very valuable to me as it has made me approach personal challenges, academic projects, and professional situations differently. I am often someone who gets impatient and wants to jump into things. Sometimes it is necessary to be patient and weigh the different options in my decisions to get a more successful outcome. This semester, I am participating in many marketing projects where I must utilize strategies and come up with new ideas. The detail put into these business decisions I made over the summer will be incredibly useful when coming to results within my projects for class. I also am practicing having more patience as I search for jobs post-graduation, this has been hard for me, but shown to be beneficial as I am able to network with a lot of professionals.

Lastly, learning about my passion for relationships and building connections has been the most valuable to me. I often question my career path and what I want to do or what industry I want to be a part of. However, I realized I want to do something where I interact with others and build relationships with coworkers and/or clients. This has led me to explore more full-time jobs in sales as network building and relationship development is what makes people successful in these roles. I always saw myself strictly in marketing roles, but this change has allowed me to explore other avenues and get excited about the future.

Over the summer I was involved in an internship at Countryside Veterinary Service where I used my STEP funds to help with my living expenses. This internship was used to help me gain a better understanding of what being a large animal veterinarian means as I was an assistant to two of the large animal veterinarians. I rode along with traveling veterinarians along Ashtabula county and assisted with consults, appointments, surgeries, and other procedures.

As an Animal Science major, I am on track to become a veterinarian. I had previously decided that I was going to become a dairy veterinarian, as I have always had a passion for working with dairy cattle. At home, my family owns and operates a commercial dairy farm, where I spent many hours working with cattle and learning about the field of veterinary medicine. I always thought I wanted to become a veterinarian and work on dairy farms, not necessarily with other animal species. My viewpoint on my career, however, changed after completing my internship and realizing the enjoyment of working with a variety of large species such as equine, swine, and sheep.

During this internship, I was able to clarify that I did choose the right career path for myself. In the past, I interned at animal hospitals for small animal and equine practices. During those internships, I never felt completely fulfilled or had the same sense of passion as I had while working on my family’s dairy farm. I still did medical procedures, interacted with patients and clients, and did the same sort of medical tasks; but never felt as though I was in the right sector of my field. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the veterinarians and liked the small animals and horses that would come in, but still felt like I may have chosen the wrong field. When starting at Countryside, I decided that if I didn’t feel the same spark of passion for being a veterinarian as I had in the past, then I would remain on the path of becoming a dairy veterinarian. I went in with high expectations for the quality of learning I would receive at this clinic, and was not disappointed with the results.

At the beginning of my internship, the veterinarian and I worked with breeding horses for the first half of the morning. It was here that I noticed how much I liked working with horses in a low stress environment. Previously working at the equine hospital, there were many emergencies and high stress scenarios where I often felt overwhelmed, which made me believe I just didn’t enjoy working on equine patients. The more time I spent at Countryside with Dr. Elliott on equine patients, performing lameness exams, taking blood samples, and working with reproductive and overall health, the more I enjoyed the work that was taking place. This did not apply to just horses, I found enjoyment when working with him and Dr. Hajny on swine, sheep, goats, and cattle. After appointments, we would discuss and explain the prognosis of animals, answer question I had, and talk about the career of veterinary medicine. The quality time and attention to detail that the vets payed to their clients was something I aspired to have.

After completing my project, I have decided to pursue a career in general large animal medicine. I have submitted my applications to veterinary school as well as decided to go back to work for Countryside in the future. My outlook on general large animal medicine has changed and helped me to realize that this is what I want to do with my career. Specialization was what I thought I always wanted, but it turned out that I wanted a broader understanding of species. This internship was significant in my life because it has helped me to not only confirm my career path, but help me find a new sense of passion working across multiple species. As I hopefully move on to veterinary school I will reflect back on this internship and ask more questions regarding large animal medicine. Through this experience I have gained a better understanding of myself as well as a larger network of people I can confide in over veterinary topics.

*Unfortunately, due to client privacy reasons I do not have pictures to upload from my internship.*

My 2023 STEP Signature Project was interning at Ernst & Young here in Columbus Ohio. I specialized under the audit service line and worked on public clients during the end of the second financial quarter going onto the third. I worked on a team of 6 other individuals on my engagement and put in 40 hours a week working with team.

One of the biggest things that changed my understanding of myself was how I operate living on my own. During my school year, I am typically an avid user of a dining plan and school resources that are usually in session during the school year. Since this was during the Summer and I lived in my apartment mostly alone, a lot of the resources that I typically use were not available. This led to me learning how to cook, how to open memberships for spaces like gyms and other luxuries, and paying for daily activities on my own. One of the biggest skills that I am the proudest of was learning how to cook. As someone who is a very picky eater, I was very used to eating take out or something quick I could get on campus. Because the dining areas on campus were not open, I had to figure out a way to get the most nutrients without eating takeout every day. I learned to cook instead! I went grocery shopping every week and would make chicken, potatoes, and other useful recipes that I am now trying to build off of. This was a very big useful life skill I developed during my time of my internship. I also was able to build a love of the city of Columbus. I feel in love with the city, and I loved it so much that I feel like I am ready to call it my home.

I also had a change of skills that I developed while interning at EY. By working in a professional setting, many different habits began to develop, and I started to fit in more with the company culture. For example, the dress code was business casual. I began to get an idea of what type of clothing truly fell in the category and had a better idea of what to wear after the first week. Another skill I began to develop was confidence while speaking. When being in a professional setting, I was becoming more accustomed to working in teams and expanding my vocabulary. By working with peers, I began to feel more comfortable having professional discussions and was able to communicate much better to seniors and partners without being as nervous.

A strong relationship I built this summer was with one of the seniors I worked with on my team, Ben. Ben was extremely knowledgeable on the different sectors of audit and what it truly is like to work in a Big 4 firm. I learned so much about how to use our audit software, different accounting terms, and what a typical quarter end looks like under his guidance. Ben was able to show me on my first few days what a general rundown of our software is like for where we upload documents that are crucial in the audit process. These documents could be like 10Ks, Meeting Minutes, or data summaries for the client. I learned so many different types of accounting definitions from Ben as well. Going into my internship, I did not know much about audit beforehand as that is a 4th year class, however Ben was able to give me a head start on what to expect in that course. The other interns I worked with were so awesome! There were 8 Assurance/Audit interns total who I worked with the most. The team was so incredible, and I truly have learned so much from them.

One activity I was able to take part in at EY was going to the client site. Since the two teams that I worked one were not during busy season, going to client sites was a very rare occurrence for anybody, however exceptions were made so we were able to go. By going to the client site, I had the ability to interact with other professionals that worked for our clients. These professionals were very interested in our overall experience with EY and were supporting us in every way possible. By having client interaction, I was able to really get a grip into real world discussions and see more of a client/contract relationship. Not only was I standing on the sidelines, but I was also able to work one on one with the clients on the several days I was at the client site during the course of my internship.

From working at EY, we were able to expand on our knowledge on the city of Columbus. Several team events took place around the city, and we were able to go explore more of our new “hometown”. Some activities that we did to learn more about the city was a “Taste of Columbus” tour where we were able to try several dishes from multiple restaurants around the short north with our other EY peers. This included many seniors, staff, and interns. This was also a way to encourage more interaction among the team members and create more of a bond between all of us. Through this, I also got to know more about the city. I began to learn so much more about Columbus and I am so excited to say that I am now planning on living here after graduation!

Each of the changes and new experiences have helped shape my thoughts for the future. The big points were gaining more confidence and a larger vocabulary, understanding more of a client/contract relationship, and also becoming more accumulated around Columbus. Each of these experiences have helped shape my thought on how I want to present myself in the future and also where I see myself in the next few years. From the gain of confidence and vocabulary, I am now able to sue those life skills to help network myself to other recruiters and other professionals who may be looking for associates or to build a new client base. I will also have a better idea as to how those relationship dynamics work by being present in those types of discussions at the client sites. So many of the different experiences we took part in around the city has also helped grow my love for Columbus and has made me want to stay here. I am so lucky to say that I have had such a positive experience with EY that I was lucky enough to receive an offer here in Columbus with them to start as an association in the Fall of 2024! I could not have done it without the help of STEP and my internship.