This summer I had the opportunity to work for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an intern in the Division of Drinking and Ground Water at the Central District Office located in Columbus, Ohio. This internship was a great opportunity for me to engage in the important work this agency does to ensure clean and safe drinking water for the state of Ohio. This role provided me the opportunity to further my knowledge of source water protection and operation by participating in various public water system inspection visits, composing compliance documents, and developing well site maps through geographic information system (GIS) software. Throughout this internship, I developed professional connections with many environmental specialists and other interns and learned how the Ohio state government regulates public drinking water for millions of people.

One of the primary goals I hoped to achieve while active in my internship was affirming if I chose the right field for my future career. Prior to my enrollment at Ohio State, my understanding of my passions and interests fell under the category of nature and the environment. This is what ultimately led me to major in environmental science and pursue an internship opportunity at an environmental agency. I found myself enjoying my heavy science-based coursework and School of Environment and Natural Resources core classes, but I had yet to experience a job that was in a prospective environmental-related field, so I couldn’t fully confirm yet whether I had chosen the right path for my future. After interning with EPA, I could gladly validate my decision to choose this profession, as it matches everything I would want in a career. My understanding of what I am aiming for in a career became much clearer following the completion of my STEP signature project.

My knowledge of drinking water standards was dramatically transformed through my experiences working alongside the Division of Drinking and Ground Water. The thought-out, complex, and constantly-regulated process of providing safe and clean drinking water is a lesser-known part of a vital resource in society. I got to witness firsthand the operations that take place at an Ohio EPA district office through my internship this summer. I learned an abundance of compliance procedures that follow a public water system’s routine in supplying drinking water to the public from source to treatment to completion. The advanced amount of preparations is an invaluable resource that many know very little about, and I am thankful to have become more educated about the significant work that takes place within the EPA.

I developed many impactful relationships that shaped my transformational internship at Ohio EPA. The most meaningful relationship I had was one with a fellow college intern. Over the summer, we quickly grew as friends and talked about our time at Ohio State, our hobbies and interests, and what we hoped to do with our futures. Having a coworker who was in the exact same position as me, in the same field and graduation year, became an exceptionally priceless gift from my STEP project. Their relationship is part of the reason why I was able to come to the conclusion that I belonged in the career path I chose: the people around me were all remarkable and special.

Throughout my summer project, I experienced a great handful of events that helped change my perception of drinking water regulation. I was blessed to be given the opportunity to attend multiple tours and site visits of water plants and public water systems around central Ohio. There, I engaged with experienced professionals in the trade of providing safe drinking water to the communities of Ohio. Alongside my EPA coworkers, my knowledge of government agency procedures was significantly expanded, which is a skill I plan to bring into my coursework.

Lastly, the interactions I had with my supervisors and managers effectively escalated my expertise in source water protection, public water system compliance, and professional development in an incredibly positive manner. The higher-up employees in both my division and district offered distinguished instruction to me throughout my internship. I was allowed the chance to be modeled into a prospective candidate for full-time environmental specialist work  alongside their training.

As I continue my educational journey at Ohio State, I hope to utilize the important experiences, skills, and knowledge I gained from my internship at Ohio EPA in my future courses and time in research and graduate school. As an environmental science major, being able to work at the central governmental agency for my field is a huge blessing. This opportunity has given me an advantage in any future endeavors, both in my academics and research. The professional connections and new abilities I acquired through my STEP project are an important part of building up my resume for my future goals in the environmental field.

After experiencing the work culture at Ohio EPA, I am fairly confident that I plan to go back for a full-time position following the completion of my college education journey. This internship allowed me to get my foot in the door at a fulfilling employer in the environmental field that I can see myself working for long-term in the future. This development is an incredibly valuable benefit from this summer, and I hope that this STEP project was only the beginning of a long, successful future with the Ohio EPA.

-Anna Bosworth

As you may recall from your STEP Signature Project Proposal, your project was designed to foster transformational learning—that is, learning that challenged you personally and helped you gain broader and deeper understandings of yourself, others, and the world around you.  Please address the following prompts to help you reflect on your experiences following the completion of your STEP Signature Project; please give careful and critical thought to your responses.

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.

– I was entrusted to take the initiative and find areas of cost reduction as well as possible opportunities for improvement in new processes. The engineers at my internship also fostered a great learning environment for practical manufacturing at a large scale. I worked with many massive customers such as Honda, Volvo and GM in product feedback and quality control, but I was also responsible for talking to the local contractors in charge of installing machines for the processes.

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.

– Realizing that not everyone in the industry is very practical and there are a lot of people who just sit at their desk not really doing anything. Some people will get paid 6 figures to sit at their desk and sports bet. The engineers I personally enjoyed working with had a disdain for this kind of employee, as do I, since I essentially had to do the work of some of these employees even though on paper, they outranked me significantly. Working with the hard-working engineers did give me some hope for the field because despite the scale of manufacturing RDC Inc is not a very large company and I hope that larger companies do not have this as an issue as I am looking to grow as an engineer and the only way to do that will be to work with intelligent and hardworking people.

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.

– I worked on cost reduction projects with an engineer named Josh Hall. Josh was an ex-military machinist who worked his way to the position of engineer. He was one of the most practical and down to earth people I met in my time in Shelbyville IN, where Ryobi Die Cast Inc is located. He taught me a lot about machining and process engineering. We worked on the cost reduction projects together and he displayed a level of professionalism that none of my other colleagues shared. Together we saved the company around $536000. Despite being overlooked in meetings and basically silenced by upper management he would still come to work with pride in what he did.

We worked closely with the machine operators and factory workers asking what could and would make their lives easier. Implementing some of their suggestions led to an increase in worker satisfaction in Plant 6 despite issues of high turnover throughout the plants. We listened to these workers who were working 12-hour days, sometimes for months in a row. Both Josh and I have worked at the lowest levels of manufacturing, and we are aware of a lot of the failures of engineers in the consideration of worker health and safety. I worry that almost nothing I have learned in college has led to me being more proficient in an actual engineering role.

I did get the chance to work with contractors to automate strenuous tasks that operators were complaining about. However, despite Josh and my best efforts we were unable to get a simple budget of $100000 approved for the automation, despite saving the company 5x that amount. This automation would have saved the company almost 3x that amount over the next 10 years as well, but it could not make it through upper management. In my time there were 4 other engineers that would attend the meetings that Josh was not involved in. I would sit in these meetings, and everything they said was either Josh’s idea or something that they would later ask Josh to do. I realize that a lot of these people only care about optics and not genuine quality or achievement.

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.

-I have realized that no matter where I work, I would like to reduce the stress and labor required by most factories, I would like to work for an automation/integration business in the future so that robots can do all the difficult tasks that will slowly wear down a human being’s willingness to live. I met some people that had been working in the factory with their family for generations and it seemed that people in that small town did not really have that many options outside of Ryobi. I knew a father and son who worked night shift for almost two months in a row and did not really have much time to do anything other than work. I am from a large manufacturing area and this situation is sadly extremely commonplace. Working on making these peoples lives easier is now my life long goal.

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1. My STEP signature project was an internship experience with the Cleveland Clinic in Wooster, Ohio. This experience entailed being trained to schedule appointments, serve patients when they walk through the doors, and work on projects that benefit the facility and my coworkers.
2. Completing my STEP Signature Project changed my assumptions about the world because I learned to respect other people and their stories. By completing projects, like interviewing people for a video I was putting together, I interacted with my coworkers in a more meaningful and deeper way than I would have otherwise. When I scheduled appointments, I talked to patients and learned their stories and why they were receiving care. Listening to them could make a bad day much better or be the reason they come back to our facility in the future.
3. Completing my STEP Signature Project changed my assumptions of the world because I was faced with the harsh realities of the United States healthcare system. I saw patients come in who utilized Medicare and Medicaid and would complain about the administrative hoops required to receive care. Appointments would be canceled because people would not be able to afford medically necessary care. It was shocking to see the number of people who had to choose between their next meal and an appointment with their doctor.                                                          As someone who has been covered by a parent’s insurance for their entire life,  I had no idea what hoops are required to jump through in order to be insured. The Cleveland Clinic does a good job of covering people below a certain income level, but they are still required to pay expensive copays and deductibles. I learned a lot about insurance and will take this information with me into the future.                                                                                                                                We had a cancer center at the facility where I worked which also greatly impacted the way I saw the world. I would see patients go from walking one week to struggling to speak the next. Hearing their stories from them or their kids and being told thank you for basic kindness was heartbreaking. Though I have had family members go through cancer before and suffer, it was heart wrenching to be on the outside of the situation.
4. This change is valuable for my life because it will change the way I interact with others in the future. I will be mindful of the fact that I do not know what people are going through. It will teach me to be mindful of the impact of my words and understand workers are having difficult days too. Thank you for the opportunity to have this experience.

My STEP Signature Project revolved around me interning at American Axle and Manufacturing as an embedded software engineer. As an intern at this company, I was able to learn how to use CAPL which is a programming language in order to work alongside of my other co-workers. I also used my CAPL skills to do my intern project which was to create a script that would run test cases on our hardware motors.

During my internship my understanding of myself changed because I learned what I truly wanted to do in my life in regards with my career. Having this internship as the first real professional work experience, I have had really changed my perspective on life. Before I had this internship my perception on the work industry was that you would have to work long and grueling hours from 9-5 in a cubicle until you can finally go home. However, working at AAM changed that perception, this was a company that prioritized everybody’s work life balance. They would even get mad if you were to do some of your work at home, they wanted to make sure that nobody takes their work home and prioritized the separation of work and your life outside of work. This reality changed my mind set on what kind of job I am looking for outside of university. I will now be very picky about choosing a place that values each individual person that works there, and I will also only work for a company that wants me to be there and not the other way around.

A significant aspect of my summer work experience revolved around my interactions with colleagues. I found myself in a fortunate position, collaborating with fellow interns and co-op participants, which meant I wasn’t the only person of my age group within my department. This arrangement proved incredibly valuable as it allowed me to engage in meaningful discussions with peers who shared similar experiences and perspectives. Our conversations were consistently enjoyable, infused with knowledge sharing, and, notably, thought-provoking, making my summer work experience all the more enriching. Furthermore, these interactions not only fostered a sense of camaraderie but also provided a platform for networking and establishing lasting connections. Through these relationships, I not only gained valuable insights into my field but also developed a support system that extended beyond the workplace. It’s remarkable how these seemingly casual conversations with my co-workers contributed to my personal and professional growth during my summer internship.

My company also held many activities during the summer that we were encouraged to attend, with all of them being amazing ways to meet people I haven’t had the chance to interact with. One event that stood out was a food drive, where employees were encouraged to take time off work to assist in packaging food for those in need. Engaging in this charitable initiative not only provided an opportunity to connect with fellow interns from different departments but also served as a powerful reminder of the importance of giving back to the community. This experience reinforced my commitment to always find ways to support others, recognizing that my own journey has been made possible through the kindness and assistance of others.

After work I found myself with a surprising amount of ample down time to myself. This surplus of time allowed me to go on activities that I had previously struggled to prioritize during the busy school year. One notable change was my regular visits to the gym, a personal goal that often eluded me due to academic commitments. I was also able to cook myself a meal every night instead of fixing up something quick or going out to eat. What struck me most was the sense of contentment derived from this newfound work-life balance. Starting my day at work and then having the entire evening to myself, free from the burden of additional responsibilities until the following workday. This is the work life balance that I strive to maintain as I transition from university to full-time employment.

The transformation and experiences I underwent during my STEP Signature Project have significantly shaped the trajectory of my life. Firstly, this internship was a pivotal turning point in my career journey. It provided me with a clear understanding of my career aspirations and goals. Furthermore, the interactions I had with my colleagues during the internship have been invaluable. Collaborating with peers from diverse backgrounds and sharing experiences allowed me to engage in meaningful discussions, broaden my horizons, and expand my professional network.

This transformation has not only equipped me with a deeper understanding of my field but also enhanced my interpersonal and networking skills, aligning with my academic and professional goals of continuous growth and career development. Overall, the change and transformation stemming from my STEP Signature Project hold immense significance as they have not only influenced my perspective on life and work but have also provided a foundation for my academic, personal, and professional goals and future plans.

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For my STEP signature project, I chose to intern at Avient Corporation in Avon Lake, Ohio as a Human Resource Generalist intern. I was assigned under my mentor and manager, Lindsey Hudson, who functioned as a HR business partner within the company. A few of my notable projects included improving employee engagement and enrollment metrics for the production associates in the plant, as well as collecting data from stakeholders to formulate and synthesize a training program for operators being promoted to lead positions.  

I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity I got with this internship as I felt it really clarified my career interests and confirmed I was on the right track, as well as sparked insight for future career interests. Before this internship, I had changed my major twice already, and had considered a variety of career options, ranging from physical therapist to school psychologist. During my spring semester of my sophomore year, I switched my major to human resources with the idea that I had finally found my niche, but it was this internship which gave me the confidence to let me know I was pursuing something that aligned with both my strengths and interests. During my internship, I was also taking 2 summer classes, which showed me how important it is to have robust time management skills in order to have a healthy work-life balance. It opened my eyes to what the future would look like outside of college, and how important it is to prioritize time for the hobbies, people, or priorities that one cares about. 

Additionally, this internship changed my view of the corporate world. I always thought that the people in corporate would be cold, competitive, and hard to talk to, but what I found was the opposite. The people at the company were always willing to help and I felt a sense of belonging. I also felt tied to the company’s value of sustainability, which made my experience meaningful and engaging. 

My internship would not have been the same without such an engaging mentor. Lindsey, my manager, truly was open to any and all of my ideas and wanted me to leave the summer with a clear idea of my career interests in regard to HR roles. My projects were real initiatives that took place within the company, and Lindsey made sure that I was able to input my passions into my projects. For example, I am extremely passionate about wellness education, and thus I was able to work with the benefits team in improving metrics for the wellness app that employees were encouraged to use. It was extremely rewarding to lead the benefits workshops, communicate with plant workers, and see their genuine excitement for an initiative they previously were not in the know about.  

With my role as an HR generalist, I got a unique perspective to shadow the role of a HR business partner. This was extremely exciting as I got to experience working both at the corporate headquarters, as well as the manufacturing plant. On a daily basis, I got to interact with production associates and manufacturing leadership, such as the plant and manufacturing manager, engineers, and other salaried workers. I was able to sit in on daily production meetings and see how things operated from a business perspective, while also getting to schedule and attend meetings related to corporate functions.  I also got to practice formulating my thoughts in a concise manner when speaking to stakeholders. My interpersonal and communication skills were again exercised when I got the opportunity to share my project work for my final presentation in front of the corporate HR department. Perhaps one of the most rewarding parts of my role was being able to instill trust in production associates. Many associates did not know what the role of a HR generalist was, and so this was my opportunity to show them that human resources is not the stereotype of “hiring and firing”. Further, it was an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and put myself in the shoes of others, while tackling challenges head on. As production associates do not have emails, I had to figure out different ways to communicate with them so I could move forward with my projects. I learned to be adaptable and a quick problem-solver with the challenges that came up. 

Further, I felt my internship would not have been the same without the community that Avient fostered for interns. My intern class truly felt so comfortable with each other, and I felt that I made genuine connections and friendships with other interns. All the interns ate lunch together every day, and I could envision myself within the company with such an inclusive and engaging culture. Interns were given plenty of opportunities to make connections and participate in enjoyable events outside of work. Throughout the course of my internship, I got to explore downtown Cleveland, sit front row at a Guardians game, and go to Swings-N-Things, along with many more activities.  

Overall, this experience was transformational and extremely applicable for many reasons. My internship allowed me to gain real, hands-on experience, clarifying not only my career interests, but also confidence in myself. I learned that I prefer the HR generalist space in comparison to those roles that are specialist in nature, which was quite surprising to me. given that I thought I would prefer specialist positions prior to my internship. I discovered that I love doing a variety of different things and would love to move into the HR management space in the future. I also learned that areas of change management, training and development, and organizational leadership were areas I was especially interested in learning more about.  Overall, I’m grateful for this experience and the learning opportunities it presented. 

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

     My STEP project was a summer internship with Swagelok’s advanced manufacturing & quality department. I had the opportunity to complete projects, connect with engineering managers, and tour Swagelok’s manufacturing facilities.

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

     My view of what a career in engineering entails was broadened through my internship at Swagelok. Before my internship this summer, my understanding of what careers I could pursue with a degree in mechanical engineering was very narrow minded. Now, I better understand the breadth of career paths out there that I can pursue with my degree. With this knowledge, I feel better equipped to find a career path that aligns with my interests 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?

     I was able to achieve a better understanding of mechanical engineering careers in the industry through various means throughout my internship. For example, for one of my projects I went to all of Swagelok’s facilities and documented their best practices. To do this, at each facility I met with one of Swagelok’s lean leaders and was able to learn a lot about their experiences and essentially shadow them and get to see a little bit about their day to day. This expanded my awareness of career opportunities within lean. Not only that but I had the opportunity to attend a point kaizen training which further broadened my understanding of lean.

     Another example was the opportunity to schedule one-on-ones with people around the company. This allowed me to meet with engineering managers, such as those in charge of new product development, which is an interest of mine. During these one-on-ones I was able to learn more about this person’s career path to get into their role as well as ask questions related to the role they were in. The information I gained from these one-on-ones was extremely impactful to formulating a decision on what I want to pursue a career path in.

     Finally, during my internship I had a supervisor for the summer, who served as a mentor. Every week we would set aside time to have a conversation regarding my personal and professional development. I was able to share my perspective and ideas on what I envisioned my early career to look like. Sharing these ideas and getting feedback from a mentor was crucial to my broader understanding of engineering in the industry. Overall, I’m thankful for the opportunity to intern with Swagelok as the various mechanisms throughout the summer for getting exposure to a variety of career paths that are obtainable with a mechanical engineering degree is invaluable.

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

     My professional goal is to be the manager of a new product development team at a reputable company. For my early career, my goal is to have a role based in design and CAD work. Through my internship this summer with Swagelok and the STEP program I was able to fully realize these goals. Identifying these professional goals is valuable to my life as it gives me clarity for my post graduation aspirations and gives me purpose in completing my undergraduate degree as I can pursue opportunities related to these goals on campus through student organizations, research, etc.

During my finance internship with the Kane County Cougars, I was tasked with ticket sales reconciliation and inventory management of a concession stand. During these tasks, I had to ensure my attention to minute details to avoid mistakes that could cause a catastrophic slope in the ballpark operations.

During this internship, I realized that I have what it takes to work in the sports industry. I enjoyed everything about each day in the ballpark. The fact that each day had something new to handle was enjoyable. I loved the way that I had to constantly be on my feet to solve different problems every day versus a regular 9-5 job behind a desk where each task feels repetitive every week. I also was able to experience the tight-knit community that the sports industry has to offer. During my last days at Northwestern Medicine Field, my coworkers offered connections to help me get where I want in the future.

Each gameday started with a daily task of reconciling ticket sales and inputting invoices into NetSuite. Through this task, I found myself paying attention to small details and being able to problem-solve through difficult discrepancies where payments did not match up to the number of ticket sales the system said we had. Also, I had to match up each item we had bought throughout the season with their specific input in the system. Without being careful in entering these items, it would cause a major discrepancy in the end-of-the-year inventory.

After my daily tasks, I managed a concession stand. During this time, I was able to build relationships with all my cashiers and cooks. During each game, I made it my job to create a fun working environment for my employees while leading them through numerous rushes when customers line up for food. I was tasked with managing the inventory of my concession stand and making sure it was stocked throughout each game. I had to make split-second decisions to keep my stand running whether that meant wasting food or catering to an angry customer’s needs.

Catering to angry customer’s needs really opened my eyes to my ability to think on my feet. A customer had approached us asking for peppers and onions on his brat. But we had made the decision not to put them on our regular brats as it would create a mess in our warmers. The customer started to berate my cashiers for not cooking peppers and onions on our brats and calling it disgusting, to which point he didn’t want to eat it. He kept telling us that he wanted his money back because it was gross to eat a brat with no peppers and onions. So instead of trying to calm him down by offering alternatives, I decided it was in our best interest to appease him by refunding his order. This type of interaction helped me realize that I really enjoy not knowing what my days hold for me and being able to be decisive in challenging situations.

These abilities I have developed allow me to become a better decision-maker for my hopeful career in sports operations. In draft days, I will have to go with gut feelings all the time and think on the fly as the draft board is constantly changing. These scenarios will never cater to my predicted scenarios, so being able to make decisions on the fly becomes incredibly important. I am so thankful for the Kane County Cougars and can not express how blessed I am for this opportunity to further my sports industry journey.

My STEP Signature Project was an internship with Grange Insurance. There, I was a personal lines intern, and so I spent my time helping out the product lines teams as well as assisting with planning the intern hosted Hackathon for the company.

While completing my STEP Signature Project, my understanding of myself changed as I found out what I value in a future career. For example, I found that I really enjoy connecting with people, and want to continue to do that. Since my internship was hybrid, I think it allowed me to see the aspects I enjoy of an in-person work environment and what I enjoy from a virtual environment. I really enjoyed the flexibility I was presented with this internship.

I think that my view of the world changed as I understand now what is expected in a standard position. I think the larger idea, that my work can be valued, has really stuck out to me. Additionally, I found out a lot about the insurance industry I didn’t previously know. I also learned about how important making connections is in any industry.

One relationship that led to a change/transformation is the relationship I had with my mentor, Courtney. Courtney helped me learn so many different aspects of the industry during my internship, but also generally helped me to understand how internships work. During our at least weekly meetings, she would check in with how I was doing with the assignments, but would also offer advice in terms of any future projects of mine, as well as introduce me to others in the field.

For example, during the first three or so weeks of my internship, I had a list of other employees within the company that I contacted and set up thirty minute sessions with to talk about their roles. This helped me to understand how vast the industry is, as well as ask questions about how they ended up in their particular position, as many of them had jobs with similarities to the job they held at the present. It helped change my mindset to be much more comfortable with the possible changes that lie ahead of me.

Additionally, the STEP Project helped me develop my teamwork skills as I worked with the intern class to host the Hackathon. This included emailing external vendors, organizing orders, and overall making sure what we were doing as a team was coherent. I think this opportunity really helped me to become stronger with working with us.

This change, specifically becoming more open to other work possibilities, is valuable for my life because I have always been a bit unsure what the next step was. However, the reassurance that there’s many different paths to land a successful career has personally made me feel more confident in my choices. For example, I want to explore REUs next summer as a personal goal of mine, and so I’m glad that I had the internship experience so I can compare the two.

(Picture is from my internship’s volunteer event)

My STEP project was a 15-week internship in the summer of 2023. I was a Project Management Intern at George J. Igel & Co., Inc. in Columbus, OH. During this project, I worked alongside professional civil engineers and project managers. I had the privilege of working on some large construction projects in the greater Columbus area. Most notably, $71M North Market Tower in downtown Columbus. I performed a variety of tasks on these projects. I most often worked on RFIs, submittals, purchase orders, quantity takeoffs, scheduling, and attending jobsite meetings.

This summer helped me take a large leap forward in my progress to becoming a professional project manager. Throughout the internship, I noticed that some things were very different from what I expected, while others were not. First, I realized that project managers spend more time in the office than I thought. In the first few weeks of the internship, I expected to be visiting a lot of jobsites, learning the work that is being done, and even performing some hands-on work. However, I quickly realized that most of the tasks I would be assigned to would be performed on a computer. Despite being upset at first, I learned to love working on a variety of tasks that helped my team perform efficiently and effectively on the computer. Going into this internship, I expected it would require a lot of communication to be successful as a project manager. This internship helped solidify this idea for me. There were many phone calls, emails, and meetings to attend to. Although this was stressful at times, it added a fun part to the job that allowed me to interact with and meet a lot of people.

Another important transformation that I had during this internship was the increase in my overall professional development skills. Throughout the internship, I did my best to meet as many people as possible. Some of these people were young staff engineers, while others were influential company vice presidents. Not only did I try to meet new people, but I also connected with them on LinkedIn afterwards. This shows the colleague that I remembered their name and found the conversation to be meaningful. All in all, during meetings and any other times I was interacting with people, I made sure to act in a professional manner.

Speaking of meeting new people, there was one week this summer that I got the opportunity to interact with the engineering department of my company. This was the most transformational experience that I had this summer, and it ultimately made me more knowledgeable in professional development. First, it helped me with technical skills; being able to see the work being done from a different perspective allowed me to get a better understanding of the overall process of how projects were completed. I found this to help me in my work on the project management side for the remainder of the summer. Working with the engineering team also allowed me to be mentored by professional engineers. One of the professional engineers gave me insightful advice about how to succeed as an intern. He taught me how important it is to gain experience in roles that are unique from each other. For example, try working in project management, design, and consulting in your three internships. You will be very marketable to employers coming out of college and have higher success rates of earning a high-paying job. He also taught me that with a degree in civil engineering, you do not need to become something related to civil engineering. He is a also a real estate developer and investor on the side, which is something that caught my attention. There are so many other professions that engineers can be successful at. This will change my outlook on internships and applying for jobs later in life, as I will be applying for many different roles and companies, rather than just one niche. Overall, this experience is what made me better at professional development, and it taught me a little more about the engineering profession.

This valuable transformation will be very useful over the next few years, and even into the ladder half of my career. If I follow what I was taught and work in different roles for my three internships I will have higher success rates in interviews with more prestigious companies. While I am still in school, getting experience in different areas of my major will lead me to success in classes. I already feel like I can connect some of my class projects to work I did this summer, and this will only increase. Professionally, I will be able to work for a top company in the industry and hopefully climb the ladder of management quickly. By gaining experience in many different areas, it will be very hard for employers to turn you away because you can be used almost anywhere in their company. This will also allow for ease in moving up the levels of management because if a position opens, there is a chance you are experienced with it. Personally, applying to different roles as an intern will eventually lead you to be happier with your career. I am not completely sure what I want to do with my degree in civil engineering, and interning for companies who do unique work may open a door for me. If I really enjoy an internship that I have, I will make turn it into a career. This will eventually lead me to being happy and satisfied with my career choice. All in all, the professional development skills and lessons that I have learned this summer transformed me in a way that will help me meet my academic, professional, and personal goals.

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.

Over the course of 12 weeks this summer, I worked as a System Verification Intern at Shure Incorporated, an audio company. During my internship, I got to learn how to use Visual Studio, a software used to write and run code. I also learned how to code in the Python programming language so that I could complete my project, a log parser to reduce logging turnaround time.

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.

While completing my internship. I learned about the industry side of Computer Science. Before this internship, I had no prior experience or perception of what computer science engineers do in the real world. After this internship, I was able to see how my technical lead and manager work and learned what a day in the life of an engineer looks like. 

Whereas before, I assumed engineers would do more designing and building products for the company, during my internship, I noticed that the people in my department mostly worked on their computer, creating tools to test current products. It was less hands-on than I was expecting. Since Shure Incorporated works on producing audio products such as mics, speakers, and headphones, I also got to work with hardware products, and I realized that I enjoy a lot of the electrical engineering work as well.

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.

The primary relationships that led to these realizations were with my manager and my technical lead, who guided me through my project and helped me stay on track. Talking to them about their jobs and shadowing them while they worked showed me what their day-to-day life looks like and what I liked and disliked about it. For example, I liked that it was flexible and they could work remotely most days of the week. I also got to sit in on a lot of their meetings and since they were working on two separate projects, I got insight into two different products that the company was working on.

Since there were many events hosted, I also became friends with other interns and realized how much I liked the company culture as a whole. For example, I liked that they hosted bring-your-child to work day and “eat to the beat” events where the intern band would perform and employees could bond. The employees seemed more like family than friends and almost everyone knew each other because the size of the company wasn’t too big or too small.

Finally, I got experience working with two different hardware products produced by the company, a mute button and a mic panel. I used these to test out my code and capture the network traffic that was being transmitted. I loved playing with these devices and seeing how they worked so I’m hoping to find a good balance between hardware and software in my future jobs.

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.

These realizations of what I liked and disliked will guide me in my career. More specifically, since I know what I like in terms of the type of work, workplace environment, and size of the company, I’ll be able to find a job better suited to my preferences. This will be extremely valuable when I’m job searching for next summer and post-grad. I can also choose future classes at OSU that will be geared toward the kind of work I want to specialize in. In terms of my personal goals, I gained a lot of confidence while presenting my ideas to my higher-ups. I also learned to network since I had to talk to the other interns and other employees in my department. Overall, this internship gave me both personal and professional skills that I will be using throughout my life.