Terian Garner ’20 Hammond City Hall – This past summer has opened a gateway to success for me. The internship I took part in, Hammond City Engineering, at Hammond City Hall, helped me connect with a tremendous amount of people.  While I worked in my hometown’s city hall, I connected with some very knowledgeable people. They were from all types of fields. I was introduced to architects, electricians, councilmen, and mayors. They all shared a piece of wisdom with me, some even displayed their work to me. The networking that took place in the office I was stationed in was amazing. Everyday someone new would come in and I would be introduced as a part of the new generation who will take their place someday. I realized the people I worked with took their job seriously because it was their passion.

Taking a moment away from the people that was outside the office, the people I worked with every day was some of the most encouraging, patient, and helpful coworkers I have ever had. They sat down and worked with me until I understood all of my assignments. The atmosphere I was in had a very positive vibe. Therefore, communication was never a problem when working with them. To this day, I keep in contact with them, even though it has been a few weeks since the internship ended. They have even offered me a chance to comeback as an intern. I want to thank them for this, and the Mellon Grant for even making this opportunity possible.

The work I was responsible for involved tons of data entry into excel, communicating with anyone who had question or called into our office with some concerns. Another job I had was to make observations on streets, signs, sidewalks, and lights around our city. The most difficult thing for me was communicating with the residents of Hammond, Indiana. There were residents who would call just looking for information on current and future projects in the area, and there were residents who called and complained about their sidewalks and streets not being presentable and habitable. This is where the job became difficult. Since we have a budget to repair sidewalks and streets, it’s hard to fix everyone’s problems. At times, we might get at least 10 complaints a day. The complaints of course are respected and we try our best to get right on it, but some assignments take time. A lot of cases people don’t understand that. Some people it might be a hazard to handicap, or to an elder or a bad spot in the school zone. Therefore, every request is priority, but residents sometimes can be impatient or misunderstanding. It took me a while to adjust and understand where each person was coming from, but eventually I did and I’m grateful to have had the ability to deal with people the way I did.

This summer has provided me with some of the greatest opportunities I have ever had, and this is because of the works of the Mellon Grant. I really cherished this summer and experienced so much more a sophomore in college could have asked for.

Lamore Boudoin ’20 WLAIP Mentor – This summer, all thanks to the Mellon Grant, I was given the opportunity to work an internship of my choice. I worked on campus at Wabash College assisting Professors and incoming freshmen within the Wabash Liberal Arts Immersion Program.

My role within the program was the alumni/team building coordinator. My co-coordinator and I prepared multiple alumni panels, so that the freshmen could learn a little bit about how Wabash has changed many people for the better and how great life could be after Wabash. We hosted three individuals on campus and communicated with them constantly to make sure everything they needed was available. We also have three more individuals coming at the beginning of school so that we can continue to encourage and help the freshmen as they begin their first year of college.

I, along with my co-coordinator, had to set up, illustrate, and monitor multiple team building activities. These activities helped the students to work as a team, strategize, and think efficiently about how to solve problems. For example, one of the activities was called a spider web which means everyone must go through a different hole in the webs that we set up without touching the strings. This forced others to learn to trust their classmates and learn to ask for help when needed.

My last responsibility as a mentor was to assist Professor Mckinney with helping the incoming freshmen complete Aleks. I helped answer many questions that the freshmen had on the concerns of mathematics. I worked with them to offer different ways of finding the solution to the problem that was presented. I also learned a few tips and tricks from Professor Mckinney, and the students on how to complete some problems faster.

During the Wabash Liberal Arts Program, I was given the chance to step outside of my comfort zone and learn to reach out to people even if neither of us knew each other. I advanced many of my skills while working with other upperclassmen as a team in order to prepare the many events that we had to organize. My communication, organization, teamwork, teaching, and mathematical skills improved as I continued through the month-long program. These are few skills that I can take into some fields and majors that I plan to pursue.

None of the skills I learned would be possible without the help of the Mellon Grant. They gave me a chance to venture out and try something new, and for that, I would like to truly thank them.

Anthony Mendez ’20 Infinite Global – Before applying, I had never heard of Infinite Global, a marketing firm located in downtown Indianapolis. I’ve always had an interest in how businesses operate from within such as advertising, promoting products, and satisfying a customer’s needs. From a young age, verbal communication and public speaking have been common struggles. However, my experience working at Infinite Global has helped me grow not only professionally but spiritually as a person. I was very nervous for the first two interviews but I prepared the night before by researching common questions, assessing my strengths and weaknesses, and having a confident mindset. Shortly after completing the interview, I learned that Infinite Global does direct sales for Xfinity (Comcast) in local retail stores such as Walmart. The CEO gave me the opportunity of an internship and I soon began working the following week. There were so many questions racing through my head about what to expect but I was more excited and anxious.

When arriving on my first day, the main room called “the atmosphere” was filled with several young, energetic, people. Everyone dressed in suits were on teams either listening on an IMPACT which is a formal presentation on a whiteboard or doing scenarios on how to pitch, present, and close on a sale with a customer. After being introduced to several corporate trainers and account executives, I began writing down notes on how to properly pitch an individual when I’m in the field. For example, this applies to the 10-6-3 step rule which is when the person says “Hey, how’s it going today?” at 10 feet, then “Quick question for you” at 6 feet, and finally asking the important question “Who do you have for internet and cable?” Once the customer tells who and how much they pay for their cable provider, the salesman quickly “Turns and Burns” on he or she which leads them to walk to the Xfinity table. The morning session lasted a couple of hours as the corporate trainers dispersed with their teams to local Walmarts around the city. Myself, along with a handful of people around my age, were sent to Comcast Training to learn all about Xfinity and what they have to offer. I learned all about their internet, cable, home phone, and security system. I wrote down several pages of notes in order to fully educate myself so I would be prepared to sell on the field. When the day ended, I knew exactly what Infinite Global did and I was excited to be working for them.

After working for nearly three months in the field marketing for Xfinity, I couldn’t have asked for a better working environment with such competitive businesses partners. I learned so much on how to be a great salesman with the help of my corporate trainer. Having a student mentality helped a lot when studying specific scenarios when dealing with rejections, indecisive customers, and challenges. My sales every week dramatically increased which motivated me to work harder than ever before. My internship felt like an actual job which gave me a realistic work ethic and expectations for my future career. In addition, it was very interesting and I do not regret it because I genuinely liked what I was doing. I don’t picture myself specifically doing sales as my career, but I enjoy working with clients in an energetic working environment. I want to personally thank the Mellon Grant for making this opportunity even possible. With their support along with Wabash College, I’ve made a lot of progress over the summer and will transfer this businesses knowledge not only to the classroom but professionally.

Isaac Avant ’20 All or Nothing – The summer of 2017 was great to say the least. When was enrolled into Wabash College I got accepted into a program called the Wabash Liberal Arts Immersion Program. In addition to learning great writing skills, making new connections, and getting a sneak peek at the year that was to come, this program came with an opportunity to build work experience the following summer. This experience came in the form of a paid internship.

    When the time came, I was blessed with the opportunity to intern with All or Nothing, LLC. which has now moved to Florida, but was based in Indianapolis while I was there. While I was there I got the opportunity to learn from Dontae Fennell, the company’s owner. During my short time with the company I learned how to make my own designs on the software program, CorelDraw. I plan to own my own fashion company one day and this was a huge step towards that goal. After the design was made I learned how translate the design from the computer to a t shirt or any other article of clothing with the use of heat transfer vinyl. Within the first two weeks I was able to produce some of my own designs on shirts while helping Dontae with some of the orders he had.

Each day I became more familiar with the programming and my progress began to show. Towards the end of the internship I came up with a design that had my hometown’s nickname, Naptown, on it. Just to show my friends what I’d been doing all summer I posted the picture of the shirt on Twitter and it got over 400 retweets and over 1,000 likes. After that, I asked Dontae how much all the equipment costs to make the shirts and he provided the information to me. From that day forward I started to mass produce the shirts and sell them to people that were interested. Following that, I decided to get ahead and start on my fashion line now.

This summer I learned how to conduct business, how to network with like-minded people, and how to make my ideas come to life. I would like to thank the Mellon Grant for making this possible and helping me kickstart my career at such an early age. I also would like to thank Wabash College for the opportunity to join the immersion program last summer.

Ivan Martinez ’20 WLAIP Mentor – This past July, I spent the month interning as a Mentor in a summer institute for the Wabash Liberal Arts Immersion Program. During this intensive program, 30 incoming Wabash freshmen stayed on campus and took an English course as well as a few other class modules, and participated in team-building activities and various trips to Indianapolis. Along with 7 other mentors and 3 writing tutors, we were to serve as a “big brother” to these incoming students by providing guidance, advice, and assistance when needed.

From a daily basis, I interacted with the students each day to ask if they were alright and ease their transition from high school to college. Ensuring that the students were fine was my priority, and this included helping students cope with “homesickness”, the stress of a college schedule, and sometimes issues regarding other students. One occasional problem was getting some students to planned sessions on time or to participate in some of the team activities. This is where a significant role of my mentor position applied. While trying to find the balance between being too much of the students’ friend and being too authoritative towards them, I gave the students explanation and motivation to follow through with the rest of the group.

Also as part of my job as a Mentor, I oversaw access to the College’s Allen Center sports facility after operating hours for the students. Along with this, I planned sessions throughout the week to let our guys use the facility, while making sure that the Allen Center was properly closed down after our use of it. Arrangements with Campus Security were also made to help organize these sessions.

This internship provided me with an experience of a leadership role while also allowing me to give back to the College by mentoring the incoming students. From this experience, I will be able to take away organizational and planning skills to better help me in my future as a student as well as a future employee. I also believe I have become a more sociable person from reaching out to students and their families.

Overall, this internship had a very positive impact on me as I had plenty of fun and now have experiences to take away. I would like to thank Dr. Horton and Dr. Koppelmann for providing me with this opportunity to lead. I would also like to thank the Mellon Grant for supporting and making my internship possible.

John Kirts ’20 WLAIP Mentor – This summer I was selected to work for the Wabash Liberal Arts Immersion Program during the its third summer institute. I am very grateful that I was able to work in this program, as I felt that I did meaningful and enjoyable work.

My position as a mentor and writing tutor, with additional roles as parent liaison and blogger, provided me with a broad spectrum of responsibility and experience. Most impactful to my time working this summer was the change and development I witnessed in the 30 students with whom we writing tutors worked closely on English 101 papers and assignments. The challenge presented to the students to complete college-level work after variable levels of preparation from high school pushed them to grow. To watch and engaged with the incoming freshmen who at the start of July were reluctant to ask for help and who did not ever practice drafting papers before, and to see them at the end of the month eager to have another set of eyes on their work so they could change anything necessary, was not only satisfying for my role, but further important for their college readiness. My job as a writing tutor also gave me invaluable experience working with the professors for the program and the students to both teach and catch the students up on subtle, good student behaviors, and to assist in every part of the writing process from a semi-authoritative voice; I acted as eyes and ears for the professors, but in a less intimidating manner gave instruction. My role as a parent liaison and blogger enabled me to gain other memorable and valuable experiences.

In order to acquire accurate and clear information on the students’ happiness and work in the program, I needed to engage with the students and go to the same events and activities so I could answer any parent’s questions, and write frequent blogs. This aspect of my job for the WLAIP was enjoyable as I became friends with the future Wabash men, and educational for me due to the empathy necessary for understanding and remembering the transition to college-level work and general student life.

Overall, the program and my roles in it gave me professional experience working with students in academic and social settings, as well as practice being in dialogue with the parents of the students during the summer institute. I am exceedingly grateful to the Mellon Grant for making my experiences possible and purveying my stipend for the month of work.

Gabriel Anguiano ’20 Metal Bulletin -First and foremost, I’d like to thank the Andrew W. Mellon foundation for providing the funds necessary for this blessing of an opportunity for this summer internship after my freshman year. I can already say that this opportunity has placed me well ahead of my peers from high school and back home by being given a chance to develop and sharpen my skills in a professional environment. Most first-year college students from my hometown have not yet pondered the idea of an internship so soon, and for this I am most grateful for the help from Wabash College and the Andrew W. Mellon foundation for this rewarding experience. For this reason, my approach towards this learning experience is to take full advantage of such a privilege early on in my professional development.

Thus far, I have learned valuable skills here at Metal Bulletin. Learning proper sales and marketing techniques requires a competitive nature and drive, but most importantly, a strong willingness to learn. By being placed in a new professional setting, out of my comfort zone, I feel the urge to ask questions. At first I was hesitant to put myself out there, but my colleagues have made me feel particularly welcomed and have encouraged me to constantly ask questions, for only this will suffice my competitive willingness to learn and sharpening of my skill set. I have also had the opportunity to train individually with the Americas Head of Sales on ‘SPIN’ selling, or a strategic approach in sales communication, and effective marketing methods. The sales training has sharpened my communication skills by redirecting my thought process to reach a desired goal by structuring questions accordingly. These one-on-one training sessions have helped me develop a keen approach in uncovering needs and providing adequate solutions for potential customers and subscribed clients. This skill set was put in place while working account management with current customers and cold calls where communication is key to a prosperous service. Whether it is phone call, email, or interpersonal verbiage, such communication skills lead to the most effective work for an employer.

I have also had the chance to partake in video conference calls with London, New York, Pittsburgh, and Colorado where we, Metal Bulletin sales team, discuss potential market opportunities, sales strategies, and weekly check-ins/goals to maintain success in the industry. This experience has given me a feel of a professional environment, where questions and being put forth can only lead to answers and prosperity. My position here at Metal Bulletin has placed me out of my comfort zone, in an unfamiliar field, and helped boost my confidence in a new setting moving forward.

Overall, my experience thus far has been beneficial in every sense. Now, I can much more appreciate my partaking in Fullbridge@Wabash over spring break this past semester. Fullbridge@Wabash has taught me valuable skills such as conventional interaction with colleagues and the ability to work quickly while maintaining a strong eye for detail. This internship, so far, has already taught me some essential life skills that I will use both now, and in the future.

Arlen Taliaferro ’20 Gary Human Relations Commission – Earning an internship can be such and hard objective to achieve being student in college. You have so many other competitors attempting to be in the same field as you and it is often hard to make yourself standout to the employer. I have found that getting your foot in the door is the hardest thing to do in chasing the career path you aspire to haven go down. I have done this in deciding to intern at the Gary Human Relations Commission. The Gary Human Relations Commission is a place that promotes equal opportunity for employment and housing to people regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, sex, or national origin. A person may come in to file a charge and the commission will investigate thoroughly and impartially, since its job is to ensure the provisions of the equal opportunity ordinance is followed as well as promote equal opportunity reflecting the commitment of the commission to Civil Rights. What does this have to do with the career path I aspire to have? Well, everything as a matter of fact. I have and aspiration of working and having a career in human resources and the Gary Human Relations Commission has opened my eyes to so many things in a business setting, as well as the skill set and work that goes into operating a Human Resources department.

Even if I may not be in a Human Resources department specifically, I am still receiving the precious knowledge of working in an equal opportunity office. At the Gary Human Relations Commission, I have participated in and completed a number of things like filing a basic data charge, sitting in and helping with intake, and assisting with fact finding. I would say by far that my favorite thing to do is intake. Aside from actually filing the basic data charge, it is one of the first steps in actually beginning the investigation and finding out if there is a case to pursue. During the duration of my internship, I have found that the intake is the most important step in investigating a discrimination complaint. I had to be as clear and concise as I could possibly be, which proved to be quite a challenge at first but eventually I adjusted. I also learned that you need to be that clear, concise, and nit-picky to make sure the report is as accurate as can be. This is a skill that will help in the long run when I write reports in my future career in Human Resources. I am extremely grateful to have had this experience and have no one to thank but the generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, for without it, this experience would not have been made possible to me.

Pierce Van Houten ’20 U2 Solutions – This summer I was given the opportunity to work with a company called U2 Solutions Corp. I owe many thanks to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for investing in my education and my future. U2 Solutions Corp. deals with unmanned aeronautical systems, or more widely known as unmanned drones. Over the last month, I have been researching the history of drones, learning the technical terms for the controls of the drones, flying the drones, taking pictures and videos of events, editing the pictures and videos, making one big slideshow-type presentation from the pictures and videos, and submitting the final presentation to the client.

Drones are a rapidly growing industry right now, and there are so many different uses for drones that I never knew about until I started my summer internship. For example, drones can be used to analyze crop fields and make a “prescription” to help maximize the growth of crops. Drones can even point out weak spots in the soil or spots in the field where a farmer may need to add more fertilizer. Also, drones can be used to analyze power lines or perform routine checks on tower-like power structures. Drones are much more efficient at performing these routine checks and they eliminate the risk of serious injury or even death to people who climb these power structures to do routine checks. There are so many more uses for drones and I will discuss a couple different ones I used during my internship.

Before I started flying drones for U2 Solutions Corp, I had to research the history of drones and learn some of the general guidelines enforced by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). I learned a lot of interesting facts in my research. One fact I found most interesting is that Joseph P. Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy, died in a crash while flying a drone on the first mission of Operation Anvil in 1944. After I did my research, I started studying to get my Part 107 pilot license so I could fly. I had to study for this for two days straight and then take the test on the third day. I learned things like how to read aviation maps and how to read METAR (Meteorological Aerodrome) and TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) reports which deal with flying conditions/weather. I also learned that lithium polymer batteries commonly used in drones have to be charged and discharged properly. I plan on majoring in chemistry and this past semester I learned all about lithium batteries, so I was familiar with it already.

After earning my pilot license, I flew for the Roselawn Little League. I took videos and pictures of the softball and baseball games. Then, I edited the videos and pictures and put them into one video and burned it on CD’s for parents and fans to watch. One of my favorite experiences so far has been making a 50^th wedding anniversary video from pictures and videos I took at the event with a handheld drone camera called the Osmo.

It has been an amazing experience to intern with U2 Solutions Corp. Again, I would like to thank the Mellon Foundation and Wabash College for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Brice Everson ’20 Clinton LumberKings – I would like to start off by thanking the Mellon Foundation for funding my internship opportunity this summer. I am truly grateful to be able to have a meaningful internship as a freshman.

I am currently an Operations Intern with the Clinton LumberKings, a Class A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners located in Clinton, Iowa.  This summer has gotten off to a great start and I’m already learning a lot about how professional sports teams operate on a daily basis.  As part of the internship, I am running a program called GameDay, which is a computer application used by all MLB and MiLB teams.  I track the entire game from the press box and document every pitch from pitch location to result of the play.  While I do this, I am constantly contacting people who work for the MLB in New York, who are helping me operate the program smoothly and resolve any issues I encounter during the games.

After the game, I work in the front office with financials, where I help count money using a bank system they have developed.  Using bags containing revenue from the game that night, we create a bank of the earnings from each bag and keep track of them individually and add all up to find out how much was made in total revenue each night and compare it to the actual inventory given by the computer.  I found this experience to be the most useful for a couple reasons: first, I plan on working in finance. Second, I get to rub elbows with the General Manager of the team, Ted Tornow, who is a great connection for me to have for more possible opportunities in the professional sports industry.

Overall, this has been an incredible experience and the knowledge and connections I am garnering can be helpful for me next summer when I intend to intern for another baseball team.  I have really enjoyed seeing what it’s like behind the scenes, from set-up to close-down, for a professional sports team.  I am looking forward to finishing my internship up strong and bringing back a story to tell for everyone to hear!