Over the summer, the Class of 2019 all had their internships. Some traveled to different parts of the United States, while others stayed right here in Boone. Here is a list of the students and the different companies they interned at.
Arman Shahi- Syneos Health - Arman spent his summer at Syneos Health, a global pharmaceutical company whose mission is to “Shorten Distance From Lab to Life”. His job was to empower employee development by optimizing the performance management system. Outside of the experience he gained during his time at Syneos, he also felt like he learned a lot about himself and what he desired in life.
Daphne Slusher- TE Connectivity - Daphne worked at TE Connectivity right here in North Carolina. She worked as an ICT Intern, and she was tasked with increasing intern engagement and satisfaction. Daphne also created suggestions for areas of focus and ideas for improvement to mitigate issues related to workforce trends.
Luke Vavricka- Dentsply Sirona - Luke worked Dentsply Sirona, which is the largest manufacturer of dental products and technologies in the world. Coincidentally, their Central HQ is located in Charlotte. Luke worked as the HR Intern on the Total Rewards Team, and his primary tasks included pay equity assessments and job code analysis. He learned a lot about the inner workings of a large for-profit business as well as sharpening his ability to pull a narrative out of a spreadsheet of data.
Veda Gopal- Collins Aerospace - Veda worked for Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies which has 300 locations across the world. She worked as a Supply Chain HR Business Partner, which combines strategy planning, analysis, discussions, and implementation of supply chain management and change management. She learned the value of having a mentor to learn from, as well as learning from one’s own mistakes.
Marissa Mei- Collins Aerospace - Marissa also worked at Collins Aerospace, which has over 67,000 employees. Her role was as a Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP). She worked on numerous projects, such as supporting the recruiting process in the company’s Dubai branch, increasing the conversion of interns to employees, and increasing engagement in general meetings. She found remote work to be very rewarding and recommends going to the Career Center for resume reviews.
Kelly McCarthy- Syneos Health - Kelly also worked at Syneos Health, a biopharmaceutical solutions company created with the intention of expediting customer success. She worked as an HR Analytics Intern, where she would collect external benchmark data from the stock market and similar organizations and update workforce demographics data for quarterly business reviews. She also worked in other to increase the diversity of the applicant pool within the corporate and clinical divisions. Her advice would be to not be afraid to try new things and experiences that are completely new.
Amanda Lillie- Thermo King - Amanda worked for Thermo King, a subsidiary of Trane Technologies. Thermo King produces climate-control solutions to move refrigerated food, medicines, and other perishables around the world. Some of her responsibilities involved labor relations management, in which she aids in developing proposals and outlining a business strategy for upcoming labor negotiations. Her piece of advice would be to be eager and to look outside your comfort zone.
Cori Ferguson- EY - Cori worked for EY, an accounting firm with a focus on building up employees and building a better working world. The company has a long line of services, but the main focus is on tax and law. Among the other assignments and projects she worked on, Cori worked on an analytics project which tracked employee sentiment towards and readiness for change within their organization. Some of the things that she loved were the organization’s commitment to diversity and the focus on community in a largely virtual environment.
Ava Young- EY - Ava also interned at EY a company with over 300,000 employees. One of the major projects that she worked on was a “User Acceptance Training Pulse Check Report”. It consisted of sending out engagement surveys and then analyzing and creating reports of said reports. Ava’s advice would be to leverage being an intern, as everyone wants to help interns succeed and watch them grow.
Taylor Bott- PDQ Restaurants - Taylor interned at PDQ, a fast-casual restaurant chain with 60 stores along the eastern coast. Some of the things she worked on were Employee Relations, Turnover Trends, and Exit Interviews. She even was an actress in the training video that is shown to employees. She described it as a strong opportunity to contribute to the growth of a company.
Nick Granowsky- Arch Capital Services - Nick worked at Arch Capital Services, a corporate segment of Arch Capital Group that provides support and expertise to the other three business segments, that being Insurance, Mortgage Insurance, and Reinsurance. The project that Nick was most proud of was the IT Framework Overhaul. He worked out all the inconsistencies in the organization’s positions, how they were titled, used, and how the compensation was handled. His advice for the first years was to create a master resume to use as a template for all other resumes.
Dalton Powers- Grind City Brewing Company - Dalton worked as the HR Intern at a brewing company called Grind City Brewing Company. Over the summer he streamlined the hiring process, wrote an official operation document and handbook, and worked with the founders to establish the values and voice of the company. He eventually assumed the role of HR Director of the company (it certainly helped that he knew the founders of the company). His advice would be to keep an eye out for all the opportunities that are out in the world.
Megan Hineline- Included Health - Megan worked for Included Health, a company whose mission is to “raise the standard of healthcare for everyone, everywhere”. Some of her tasks included maintaining and deleting any outdated reports, understanding the data structure of the company to accurately create reports, and creating descriptive statistic reports on turnover ratios for managers and execs. Her advice would be to understand what your personal brand is and to align your goals with the different opportunities that are out there.
The biggest shared takeaway is something we’d like all first years and prospective students to consider as well. Networking is a huge part of success and talking to people is how you discover new opportunities. You never know what’s out there unless you explore. It’s impossible to do things alone, and there’s no harm or shame in asking people for a little guidance as you carve your path in life.
