Samuel Comer ’24 — As a member of the Center for Innovation, Business & Entrepreneurship (CIBE) at Wabash College, I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Business Innovation Program (BIP) this summer. The program was tremendous in bringing back successful alumni, with various forms of business expertise, to speak with the BIP members. I was able to gain an incredible amount of real-world business insight from all the speakers. The program also provided me with a tremendous virtual internship with Purchasing Platform. All of the knowledge and experience this summer that I had would not have been possible had it not been for the hard work, dedication, and sacrifice that many people made to put this program and my internship on. I would like to start by thanking Roland Morin and Anthony Mendez for putting the BIP program on this summer. This is a fantastic program for anyone who may be interested in a business future. I would also like to thank all of the alumni who took time out of their day to come to speak to the BIP members. Hearing from people who have been in my shoes before was very helpful and motivating for me. The fact that so many alumni are willing to give back to the current Wabash men shows how strong the brotherhood truly is. I would also like to thank Wabash College and all of the people who fund the BIP program. Your support and belief allow students like myself to have these summer experiences.
I would now like to outline my summer internship with Purchasing Platform. I want to start this section by thanking Wabash graduate Dave Bowen for allowing me to intern with his company for the summer. In my internship, I worked with the Vendor Operation team. Since the company is located in Chicago, IL, and I am living outside of Indianapolis, my internship was entirely virtual. Although it was virtual, I was still able to interact with team members on a daily basis via Google Meet and Slack video calls. My work at Purchasing Platform for the Vendor Operation team included building quotes inside of their system, entering data into Salesforce, working to enter data into excel spreadsheets, and more. Most of all, I was able to see how a team works together from top to bottom to be successful. Purchasing Platform has built an incredible culture among its employees. Everyone is very respectful, hard-working, helpful, and creative. I am very appreciative of the team and that each and every person I worked alongside did everything in their power to make sure that I understood what I was supposed to be doing.
My favorite part of the internship with Purchasing Platform was the weekly meetings with Dave Bowen. Dave took 30 minutes to an hour of his Fridays to speak with the Wabash interns. He gave us the company sales pitch, told us incredible stories, allowed us to ask anything, and most importantly he offered us many pieces of advice. As the CEO of a company, I would imagine that it is hard to find a lot of free time during business hours to speak with a few interns, but Dave did make the time. I am very appreciative of that and for everything that the people at Purchasing Platform have offered me this summer.
