1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project.
My STEP project was Interning at Vium Capital as a Summer Analyst. During my time I completed financial spreading of financials for bridge to HUD 232 loans while working on an individual project analysing the CMS database for quality of care. Along with assisting in origination, sizing and diligence of loans alongside full time associates.
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 the world was completely changed. This was my first professional experience in the workplace and working with the level of professionalism that was required. My internship at VIUM was my first exposure to high finance and the amount of money that was being transacted. The loans we were underwriting were on average of $15MM and with several $100MM transactions on the books. Being around my highly intelligence co-workers for the summer pushed me to grow tremendously. They all thought on a very high level and are experts in the healthcare finance space with decades of combined experience. It allowed me to see that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to by seeing all the amazing accomplishments people not much older than I have already accomplished.
It also made me realize that if you love what you do you will never work a day in your life. Each and every day I looked forward to work and being around the people I had the pleasure to work with. I learned new things everyday and at the end of the experience look back in amazement with how much I have learned. It made me realize all I can learn in a summer and be excited to never stop learning. At the end of the experience I will forever look back with extreme thankfulness and be glad I had the wonderful experience I did.
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?
My experience this summer was amazing. Each and every day I was excited to go and learn new things. Everyone I worked with was extremely nice and always willing to answer questions no matter how busy they were. The analyst and associates I had the pleasure of working with are not much older than I am and really inspired me to work hard to be in the same places they are when I am their age. Each one of them took us under their wing and helped us out in any possible way they could. If they explained something to us and five minutes later we forgot how to do it they would be more than happy to roll their chair over and help us understand it better.
The founders and partners were also very accessible and made sure we knew how much they cared about the interns. two of the six partners live in other regions of the country operating out of different offices. Both of them book the time out of their busy lives to fly up and take us to dinner while interning. Not only did the take us to dinner but also took additional time to sit and talk with us about our experiences and time interning. The two founders also spend numerous hours talking and interacting with us getting to know us and making sure we were having a good experience. It made me understand there are companies that truly care about their workers and everyone is not just a number.
The amount of responsibility that is put on an analyst is amazing and something I truly admired. It made me understand that when properly trained you can accomplish a large amount of work and do it very efficiently. Even as interns were where doing work monitoring deals and assessing the financial state of the property and reporting back on how there doing. They not only put a lot work on the analyst but also trusted that the work is correct. It was very nice to see that when you do something right, people believe you and trust the information provided is true. The overall experience allowed me to understand that if you have a positive work environment, you can accomplish amazing things.
4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life?
The reason this change was significant to me was how it changed my outlook on the world. I no longer see things as I did prior to this experience. I understand anything I put my mind to and work hard at I can accomplish. Information I learned over the summer will be invaluable to me as I progress through my career providing a wonderful foundation to build upon. Dreams I thought were once to far out and would never be achievable I now know I can achieve.
Intern Book Drive: Individual Photo:
