My STEP Signature Project was an internship with the Ohio Department of Health. I had the opportunity to work with the FoodCORE team. During my internship I was able to learn about various foodborne illnesses and the common exposures that are associated with them. I interviewed patients who were reported with a positive test for a foodborne illness and gathered exposure information to aid in outbreak investigation. 

Through my STEP Signature Project my understanding of myself has changed because it gave me a new direction in my career. Previously, I was not interested in the field of Epidemiology because I was not completely aware and did not have a good understanding for what it truly is. However, after my internship I gained so much valuable knowledge about Epidemiology and public health in general. This new interest has motivated me to apply for a master’s degree in Epidemiology. 

My view of the world has also been impacted dramatically. Speaking with so many people who are in a vulnerable situation has changed the way I interact with people in my daily life. I am able to approach all situations with an understanding mindset because you never know what people are going through.

 The opportunity to work so closely with experienced Epidemiologists in the infectious disease field has been the main factor that helped me determine my future steps in my education and career. With their guidance I was able to learn about public health in great depth. This included information about specific diseases, lab samples, outbreak investigations, and the work environment in general. 

My supervisor also made an impact in my experience there and my future plan. She is an OSU alum and gave me great advice about the path to public health. I was able to learn how to communicate effectively and sensitively when interviewing patients through her. Having her as a supervisor gave me the confidence to approach unknown situations with the mindset of I can learn how to handle this. 

Lastly, my interactions with patients impacted my experience the most. Speaking with people from all different age groups and backgrounds provided me with an opportunity to see more of the world than I have before. I gained a better understanding of the way people live and it has changed the way I view the world. It has also helped me become more comfortable with speaking to people outside of my friends and family. 

The change I have experienced through my STEP Signature Project is a large part of my future career and education plans. It has opened my eyes to a new field that I can pursue and given me the confidence to move forward with it. Additionally, I have experienced a dramatic personal growth. My social skills have improved and I am able to interact with various individuals in a meaningful manner.

My STEP signature project was interning with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Communications department. My main activities consisted of the following: designing all gameday press materials (lineups, game notes, media information), gathering players’ quotes after practices and games, writing press releases for the organization, and fulfilling media credential requests. I was responsible for ensuring the press box was set up for games and handing out game stats from our officials as they became available.

I became more aware of the dedication it takes to work in the sports industry. I was surprised to find out how many hours the communications department has to dedicate from their lives to work their jobs. They often don’t have days off and are the first to arrive and last to leave. I didn’t know that they also travel for every game and how little the pay in sports is, even if you have a master’s degree, etc.

The sports industry is complexto break into without connections, and you must love it to cope with how little free time you have outside of the profession. Sometimes, my supervisors would have landed from a game at 3 am and had to return to the office by 9 am the same day. It is a demanding job field, which has changed what leagues I may want to work for depending on the pay and the hours.

My senior coordinator has a master’s degree in sports management yet makes incredibly little from how much she travels, how many hours she spends with the team each week, etc. I have had to be at games from 9 am to 12 am before and back in the office at 9 am the next day. If the team is playing, we’re there every day.

I’ve spoken to several departments, as I’ve had the opportunity to shadow different people in the organization, and many of them do not have the same demands as the communications department. This week, we are on a two-week away-stint, and my supervisor is away from his family for the entirety of the two weeks. They fly in the day of a game, fly out the night after the game, and repeat it each day/week.

It has affected my outlook on 

working in the NHL. While I love hockey, and I have grown up playing and watching the sport, it is by far the most demanding to work for of all sports leagues. I have had difficult conversations with myself and those around me about whether I want to dedicate all my time to my job, especially with how little the pay is, and I have yet to decide. I would not have known this or had the stark reality revealed to me if I had not been able to intern with an NHL team.

It is incredibly significant as I graduate in May. I have already started applying to post-grad jobs, and while I have been applying with NHL teams, I’ve also applied

 for jobs outside of the league as I know I want and need to make more money than they will likely provide. Before this internship, I was entirely devoted to the NHL, but I’ve realized that while I love the sport, other leagues (such as the NFL and MLB) pay significantly more and are less demanding.

I would love to accept a job in other leagues, something I did not believe in before this internship. However, having the opportunity to do this STEP project made me realize that I love sports, and as a woman in the sports field, I know it isn’t easy. I have dealt with sexism during my time with the league, which is, unfortunately, something many of my female colleagues have had to deal with. It, however, makes me want to succeed more in the industry and show people that women deserve to be in sports.

Over the course of the past 4 months, I completed my STEP signature project by participating in an internship/Co-Op at the 3D printer manufacturer Formlabs in Boston. At Formlabs, I was working on the Mechanical Engineering R&D team to develop the next generation of SLS 3D printers. While the role was labeled as “Mechanical Engineering,” I wore many hats, from software to sales, to engineering. As my project’s focus was on helping me decide between graduate school or industry after graduation, this was the best possible scenario. I got in-depth experience in these 3 areas and was able to very quickly tell where my passion lies, giving me the confidence to answer my STEP project’s initial question: industry.

Working at Formlabs for the semester, I discovered that I am a person who needs constant stimulation and can work well under pressure. I like to work on a task, get it reviewed/approved, and then keep moving towards the goal in the most efficient way possible for hours on end. I had initially assumed, and quite foolishly so, that companies (and industry) tended to be less dynamic than a university setting simply because they had an established brand, a line of products, and a bottom line they needed to maintain. Formlabs taught me that this generalization, while true in some circumstances, is not the case for companies where I would be interested in establishing a career. Everyone at Formlabs, especially the engineering team, shared the same drive that I spoke of earlier and embraced our tight deadlines. There were many days when we would work for 14 hours and have a pile of real, meaningful work to show for it; it was an intoxicating environment. When I compare this to my experience in academic research, the pace does not compare.

While the internship itself was an eye-opener, the conversations that I had with senior engineers helped to solidify what I was experiencing. At Formlabs, there were engineers from all walks of life. Some grew up in foreign countries, others never attended university, and some were current MIT graduate students. As a result, everyone had a different story to tell. The one piece of the story that remained the same across the board, however, was the thrill of seeing someone else use the product that you developed to build their own things. Even though I was an intern for a relatively short time, my internship spanned the launch of a new product. The product, known as Fuse Blast, launched about halfway through my internship, and even though I hadn’t worked on it when the reviews started rolling in, I felt a small piece of what the other engineers had spoken of. Moving forward, I want to have more experiences like this, and I feel that graduate school is not the path toward this goal.

While completing my STEP project, it also became apparent that I would like to flex my entrepreneurial muscle. The work that I was doing at Formlabs was fun, no doubt, but I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that what I was doing was making someone else’s dream come true. Almost 12 years ago now, the three MIT students who started the company aimed to bring low-cost SLA desktop 3D printing to market, and by almost all metrics, that’s what they have achieved. When people hear this story, they hardly think about the 800+ person team that made it happen alongside the founders. Now, I possess few of the skills required to build, market, finance, and sell a physical product, but I know that working at a company that has done it before certainly can’t hurt the development of those skills.

I also want to be clear that it isn’t my intention to belittle graduate school, in fact, quite the opposite. When working with the engineers who were currently attending graduate school, the sheer level of intellect that I was surrounded by awoke me to my ignorance. These people had an answer to almost all the challenges our team ran into, even if the problem didn’t remotely relate to their field of study or their training. It was a humbling experience that showed me the importance of having incredibly talented people on your team. I’ve never been the extremely academic type, nor am I gifted in the way that these people are. This, in combination with the aforementioned reasons of pace and entrepreneurship, has led me to the conclusion to forgo graduate school directly after I graduate.

While it’s not off the books for the future, the work environment, problems, and satisfaction that industry can provide are more aligned with my strengths and goals in the long term. In essence, the STEP program has been a guiding force, illuminating the trajectory of my professional journey. The financial support provided enabled me to delve into a transformative internship at Formlabs and confidently discern that my passion lies in the dynamic realm of industry, steering me away from graduate school for the time being. Equipped with a clear vision for my future, I can now take advantage of opportunities with confidence, knowing that it is bringing me closer to my goals.

My Step project was a school social work internship in Pickerington, Ohio. At my internship, I worked closely with the school counselor at Toll Gate Middle School. Throughout this internship, I gained experience attending professional meetings, completed various social work trainings, worked with students individually, facilitated small group discussions with students, connected families with community resources, and participated in district-wide events.

My understanding of myself changed throughout this internship experience as I was able to feel very comfortable and confident working in a school social work position. Considering that this was my first internship experience, I struggled with self-doubt and worries that I may not be capable of succeeding in a difficult placement such as this. Through putting myself in an initially uncomfortable position and diving head-first into the position, I repeatedly watched myself succeed and flourish at each task at hand. My views of the world were also transformed throughout my experience at my internship as my perspective and overall knowledge has been greatly expanded. At Toll Gate Middle School, I had the opportunity to work closely with a diverse population of middle school students from different cultures and backgrounds. Listening to the stories and experiences of these students allowed my perspective to increase as I became aware of many challenges and struggles that I have never faced myself. I also attended many cultural and diversity trainings that helped me learn and understand how to work with other populations and those with differing experiences from my own.

Two relationships that have impacted my understanding of myself are my task instructor, Kelli, and my field supervisor, Erica. Both Kelli and Erica have helped me learn valuable skills and information about the social work field and how to make a difference in the lives of the students we work with. In the process of learning, Kelli and Erica have also continually been encouraging and have provided valuable feedback that has helped me gain overall confidence in my own abilities. In addition to providing knowledge and encouragement, Kelli and Erica have also pushed me to challenge myself with the tasks I take on each day in placement. As I am initially hesitant to take on some of these tasks, their support has given me the extra push that I needed to grow confidence in my abilities. Both relationships have been very impactful to my understanding of myself as they have been nurturing and encouraging but have greatly challenged me as well.

One specific interaction that I had with a student at my internship has greatly impacted my overall perspective on the world. This student was crying in the lunchroom during one of my first few weeks and I was sent by a teacher to check on her and offer support to her. The student was initially hesitant to open up to me about her struggles, but after speaking with her for a while she informed me that her mother had recently been laid off from her job. This information was making the student very anxious and worried about her mother as she was at school. A few days after speaking with this student, I had a follow-up with her where she thanked me profusely for my support and informed me that her mother had an interview set up with a new job. Overall, my encounter with this student shifted my perspective of the world as it caused me to realize the depth of the struggles that people face on a daily basis. It taught me the lessons that I may never know what others are silently going through and the importance of always treating others with kindness.

An activity at my internship that has also shifted my views of the world is my experience facilitating small group discussions with students. These discussions take place once each month and are focused on topics such as anxiety/stress, changing families, friendships, and other topics relevant to middle school students. When sending out sign-up sheets for these discussion groups, I did not realize how many students would express a need to speak about their challenges within these topics. The greatest surprise to me was how many middle school students struggle with intense anxiety and panic attacks at school daily. Hearing first-hand experiences of mental health struggles from eleven- and twelve-year-old children was very heartbreaking and caused me to gain further awareness of mental health issues. When I was in middle school, my peers had never talked about mental health struggles, making this experience very shocking to me. All in all, my perspective on the world has been impacted by the stories of students as I am now aware of how widespread and frequent mental health struggles are among people of all different ages, cultures, and backgrounds.

These realizations about myself and changes in my perspective of the world are very significant and directly relate to my future professional goals. In the social work profession, our ethical values include competence, service, social justice, equity, and more. The lessons that I have learned at my internship align with all these ethical values as this experience has taught me the important lesson of treating others with unconditional kindness. My experiences at Toll Gate Middle School have allowed me to grow confidence in myself and my abilities. I will take this confidence with me into my future profession as I continue to face increasingly challenging tasks in the social work field. This internship also has allowed my perspective on the world to shift as I have learned more about how to work with many different populations in our society and different struggles they may face. This is very relevant to the social work profession because I will be working with clients experiencing many different challenges from various cultures and backgrounds. All in all, this internship at Toll Gate Middle School has taught me valuable lessons that have prepared me greatly for the work I will do in my future profession.

(1)
For my STEP Signature Project, I was a Honda Quality Engineering Co-op for a little under 7 months at the Indiana Automotive Plant. My job title was Supplier Assurance/Function Procurement Co-op. Working with a team of seven engineers including two mentors, I was able to efficiently solve quality issues with companies that supply parts to Honda (or suppliers as I will call them) before causing impact to any Honda plant.

(2)
My views of myself and Honda really changed during this Co-op. I always thought that American-based car companies were superior to other car companies since my grandfather worked for Chrysler and that’s what my dad taught me. Working for Honda gave me a different understanding of how American this Japanese company was. Honda employs a ton of people across North America and they also have a design center near Marysville. Here they do everything from designing initial car concepts to supervising cars being made at numerous factories. I also learned Honda really cares about the consumer from cost, safety, and even customer service. Working in quality it was interesting to see how safety was always put first. Whenever there was a potential quality issue, the first step was finding out if any no good parts had made it on cars and what was the worst-case scenario if the part failed. Having these things in mind helped to keep a focus on working quickly but diligently.

My understanding of myself changed working with a team of experienced engineers. I learned that my standards are generally higher than others standards for me, and even if I don’t feel like I am doing an adequate job there is a chance I am being too hard on myself. This Co-op also showed me how opportunistic I was how I jumped at every opportunity that came my way and rarely backed down from a new experience. I will go into more detail later.

(3)
The first major task I received was to go through every single quality concern a supplier received in the previous year, totaling about 130 reports, and find patterns or common issues they have had. My mentor specifically gave me little overview of the supplier and the issues so I could look at them with fresh eyes and make my own connections. After taking three days to go through every report and asking good questions along the way, I identified common and easily avoidable issues they were having like shipping parts with a missing weld nut or incomplete stamping. For this being my first big task, I felt like I took too long to go through the information but I thoroughly went through the reports to my standards. Several months later I learned that my mentor thought I went above and beyond in on this task that I felt could have gone better. He said that I asked the correct questions and made logical conclusions with the little information I started with. He proceeded to say that I went above and beyond on numerous tasks where I thought I was just average and that I excelled compared to previous Co-ops they have had. From knowing this person I understand these comments were genuine and not to be taken lightly. My other mentor and boss shared similar sentiments at the end of my Co-op evaluation

My biggest project during this Co-op was leading red card activity at a supplier which is the same supplier I mentioned above. Red card activity is a program Honda runs to help suppliers that are struggling. The red card concept surprised me when I first heard it since Honda was going out of its way to help their business partners become better. My job was first to hold a meeting with the supplier and introduce the procedure and what was expected of them. Then I had to hold a meeting with the president of the supplier and high-up Honda management to have both sides agree to help improve quality. This was a tough meeting for me since I was instructing people 3 times my age on what to do, but I got through it fairly well and got feedback from my mentor on how to improve in the future. The feedback was to have more inflection when I talk and to stop being so literal when I talk. Lastly, my job in this project was to hold monthly meetings with the supplier and go through different quality improvement projects they have completed. After working 6 months on this project, the supplier cut their monthly no-good parts in half. I also better learned how to instruct people older than me on what to do since it originally felt so foreign to me.

Lastly, I was able to go on a port repair for Honda. It all started by receiving an email from my boss asking for volunteers to go to a port in Jacksonville Florida to fix some cars. I jumped on the opportunity and was headed to the airport 3 hours later. I had my interview for my Honda Co-op next summer at this airport. Myself and two coworkers proceeded to fly down to Florida to fix cars the next morning. The next day, we drove to the port early in the morning to fix over 500 cars. We first had to find the car from its vin number, take out the no-good part, and replace it with a good part. We were able to find and fix the first 400 cars the first day, but we couldn’t find the remaining 150 cars so we decided to look the next day. That was because we were working in Florida in the middle of the summer inside of hot burning cars. The person in the group in charge of starting the car got burns on his fingers from touching the ignition button. After coming back early the next day and fixing the rest of the cars we were able to enjoy some time in Florida before our flight back to Indiana the next morning. This trip showed me how seriously Honda dealt with quality concerns. 13 of us dropped everything we were doing to fly to Florida and fix 550 cars. Even though fixing the cars was grueling, it was a great opportunity that I was glad I had jumped on. It showed me that taking new opportunities was a great way to do new and interesting things and that is why I jumped on many other opportunities later in my Co-op.

Image of Jacksonville Port with Honda Cars

No good cars at Jacksonville Port noted with white X

(4)
This Co-op will be really impactful for the rest of my life. It was a life-changing experience getting my first Co-op much less with a huge company like Honda. I was able to secure another Co-op next summer working on warranty claims. Also, my boss, his boss, and even his boss said that when I graduate they would really want me to consider working for them and would love to hire me. With that point being 4 semesters it was really flattering to hear since I knew it was truthful. Working for Honda in the future would be great since I know they will be a company that will surely last my lifetime, and I saw how every employee loved working there. If I ever choose to want to get a Co-op outside of Honda, this Co-op will look great on a resume and I will have a ton of life-changing experiences to talk about during my future interviews. This was an amazing and life-changing experience I am so glad I was able to get, and I am excited for what doors it will open in the future.

Step Reflection  

My STEP (Second year Transformational Experience Program) signature product was interning at Frazier Financial Advisor during my fall semester. At this internship, I could shadow current employees of the company, answer client calls, sit in on meetings, and so on. Overall, the internship gave me a look at all the different jobs available in this field.  

During this internship, my view of becoming a financial planner has changed a lot. When I started my internship, I had no idea what it was like to be a financial planner or about the other jobs that people could have in the industry. I was also able to learn that this is something I want to do in the future. Before, I did not know if I would like the work schedule and responsibilities that came with a job but watching others, I learned it may be exactly what I am looking for. I got to see how much these individuals help couples, families, and business accomplish all their financial goals.  

During my internship, we had many events that helped me learn more about the industry and client interactions. When I first started, I was invited to an event where they held a plated lunch while learning about a new potential investment opportunity. During this dinner, I got to talk with clients and learn more about what people are investing in right now. They also made the event understandable for people who may not have been well-educated in the industry. I was allowed a plus one and brought a friend who is majoring in journalism and even without knowing much about investment she also found the event interesting and educational.  

Frazier has also given me amazing networking opportunities. Since they have been in the industry for a while, they have connections with other brokers, insurance companies, attorneys, and many more. Also, a lot of the employees here have worked for larger companies and have told me if I ever want to apply for a job there to let them know because they would reach out and help me with possible job and internship opportunities. This is immensely helpful because when applying to companies like Nationwide and Morgan Stanley it can be hard to stand out with so many applicants.  

This internship has also just allowed me to work on this I would likely do in my professional life. I have worked on many tasks that directly added to helping the business. Sometimes I would add information to client folders, order gifts for clients, submit important client documents, and gather information needed for advisors. Advisors also went above and beyond to make sure I was getting the most out of my internship and would often take time to teach me new tax laws and explain different methods of investing and the differences in retirement plans.  

Everything I have done in this internship has made me a more attractive applicant for jobs in my career. Before my internship, I had never done any work in the business industry and this job has shown me how to dress, act, and speak when talking to clients, future employees, and peers. They have educated me on many topics I would have also had to learn to become a financial planner. They have also had an amount of care and respect that I will look for in any potential work environment. Overall interning for Frazier has been one of the best, most life changing opportunities given to me by Ohio State.  

Over the fall semester, I took on a 17 week internship with Walt Disney World. I was a part of the Strategy and Transformation team as a Workforce Management industrial engineer intern. I worked on the company’s staffing needs throughout the parks and resorts by creating systems and tools to optimize our workforce.

Throughout this project, I really grew and found myself. I was given the time and opportunity to reflect on myself and what I want for my future. My internship allowed me to experience what life would be like after I graduate and transition into full-time work. I am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering so the role is directly related to what I want to pursue in the future. I learned a lot about independence and understanding my needs away from my friends and family back at home. I created and grew new relationships with fellow interns from all over the world and learned so much from each other. My confidence and interpersonal skills grew throughout this project.

My internship required me to move to Orlando, FL for four months. The idea of it was daunting itself. Not returning to school for the fall semester and pursuing an internship while I was extremely excited, I was also very nervous about it. The experience of living in a different state and working full-time taught me a lot and helped build my sense of independence. In the beginning, it was difficult to figure out my schedule and balance as life not in college is so different from how you schedule your time while in college. I set goals and priorities for myself and kept myself accountable. I also got the chance to learn new skills such as cooking, baking, and crocheting during my time in Orlando. I used my time to also reflect on myself and figure out what I want to do in the future once I graduate and what I want rather than what I thought or was told I needed.

The work I did as an intern helped in challenging and strengthening my technical skills. I learned a lot during the internship and was able to have the opportunity to work on projects that interested me and would benefit the company. In addition, the projects that I worked on made direct impacts on the company and the processes in place. I was able to implement my tools immediately and see my results. I was also challenged when it came to learning new software along with the team and being one of the first members of the team to complete a project in it. Throughout my internship, I was also able to strengthen my interpersonal skills when working with my large team as well as other clients. I presented and pitched ideas multiple times throughout my internship and was able to learn and receive feedback to continue to grow from it.

During my project, I was able to make strong and meaningful relationships with the people around me. I was able to connect with my team I worked on and be able to learn a lot from them. The community also allowed me to network and connect with other people throughout the company and be able to share stories and advice. The company itself has many students on internship and college programs which allowed me to build friendships with students all over the world. The friendships that I made throughout my project really made the experience such a fun and fulfilling one.

This experience was very valuable in my growth as a person. I found my confidence and individuality through my time in Orlando. That is one of my main personal goals I set for myself, not being afraid of learning more about myself and expressing it. I spoke up for myself for what I wanted this internship to provide me. I gained so much technical experience that will continue to build my skills throughout my academic and professional career. The relationships I have made will continue to stay with me and help me to grow. I learned so much from others’ experiences and advice. This experience and the transformation that occurred were so valuable to me both personally and professionally.