The summer of 2022 saw Highstreet host five college students for internships. Each gaining practical experience in their area of interest. Highstreet’s internship program is designed to expose students to new areas of interest, real world business practices in their area of study, and grow their ability to function in a professional work environment. This, all with the goal of making sure these students enter into the workforce confident, experienced, and in an area of work they’re passionate about. See how our internship program invests in our clients here.
The University of Arizona
Athena Tran
An avid reader and a girl with an adventurous nature, Athena enjoys spending her free time outdoors boating, paddle boarding, and swimming. She is an involved member of her sorority, Zeta Beta Chi Omega at the University of Arizona. Apart from her studies, Athena raises money for the Make a Wish foundation with her sorority sisters. She joined Jenn Nuss, Highstreet’s Senior Accountant, in the Accounting Department and has begun her junior year studying Law and Political Science.
This summer, Athena set the goal of further understanding Excel, numbers, and reports as she will go on to apply these useful skills to her Political Science courses, as well as a career outside of college. Athena began the internship wanting to gain the most knowledge from the “corporate job experience” and was interested in everything that happens behind the scenes when managing a company’s finances. Athena was involved in many daily projects where she learned how to input and understand invoices, create AP projections, create AR aging reports, and file annual reports. These projects taught her the importance of timing and task management so that she could meet project deadlines.
Her suggestions to future interns: “Ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, the more you know the better you’ll do. Be open minded to criticism, the people above you have been doing what they do a lot longer than you have.”
The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Rachana Reddy
A rising Junior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Rachana joined Highstreet’s IT department this year. A Computer Science Major, Chris Cox was Rachana’s manager this summer. One of her main projects was using Power Automate and Python to automatically pull DMARC reports from a shared inbox. Then display this congregated data with Power BI. Having never worked with these interfaces before, she was excited to learn how to navigate them. Utilizing additional online resources and pivoting her approach proved a good challenge.
When asked why she enjoys Computer Science, Rachana replied that “there are so many different ways to go about it [a problem], there’s never one right solution.” While she is still exploring all of the different fields computer science has to offer, Rachana is passionate about using her skills to help people. “A big problem is keeping computer science ethical– it is a rising problem.” We’re excited to see Rachana leading the ethical development of the computer science arena.
When she’s not finding innovative ways to solve digital problems, Rachana enjoys biking and hiking. “Anything involving nature!” she elaborated. A young woman of many talents, Rachana also plays the piano.
Rachana’s advice to future interns: “Understand the intentions of your project, ask questions so you know the purpose of your project and who it is useful for. Also, take advantage of your resources; if you’re curious about something in your department, just ask!”
The University of Tampa
Makayla Lee
Makayla Lee, a junior majoring in Marketing at the University of Tampa, spent her summer supporting Natalie Zeltman in the Marketing department for her second consecutive summer. Makayla’s experience in Highstreet’s 2021 Intern Program confirmed that her interest and passion lies in digital and social media marketing. The majority of her summer was spent focusing on creating and scheduling social media posts and emails for U.S., Canada, and India holidays. These projects allowed her to grow her skills in graphic design and become proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and social media management using Hootsuite’s scheduling tools.
Makayla also enjoyed designing a case study template and presentation template that highlights Highstreet’s project expertise and solutioning. Makayla used this internship as an opportunity to further develop her marketing skills and form professional connections. When Makayla is not focused on her studies, she enjoys being active in the Tampa community by volunteering at local philanthropic organizations with her sorority. As a lover of all things fashion related, she hopes to get a marketing position in that industry when she finishes her degree.
Her advice to Highstreet’s future interns: “If you have a particular interest, concentration, skill, or project that you want to learn or accomplish, make sure to express that so you can gain the experience that you desire. You will get the most out of the internship if you are communicative, whether that means asking questions or expressing your goals with your manager.”
Savannah Lee
We were excited to welcome Savannah Lee back for her second consecutive summer internship with Highstreet’s HR team. Savannah joined Kimberly Lee, Highstreet’s Director of Human Resources & Operations, to once again provide support to the HR department. A junior at the University of Tampa and a sports enthusiast, Savannah discovered a new passion in Advertising and Public Relations and recently changed her major to pursue this career path.
She set the goal of improving her time management and multi-tasking skills and learning more about how the various departments of a professional organization work together to achieve the company’s various goals. In her free-time, Savannah enjoys practicing with different software to further expand her graphic expertise so that she can excel in her advertising classes.
This summer Savannah took the lead in accomplishing two main projects for the HR Department. Under the guidance of Kathy Logan, she was responsible for the annual consultant resume update effort, which consisted of reaching out to and following up with the consultants, tracking resume updates in Excel, ensuring they were received by the requested deadline and saved to SharePoint. She was also highly involved in the Employee Anniversary Recognition program and researching options for the quarterly employee engagement activities. Highstreet recognizes Savannah’s willingness to jump in and learn skills outside of her career focus and is appreciative of her contributions to the HR department.
Her advice to Highstreet’s future interns: “Don’t be afraid to speak up and ask questions during meetings or when being trained on a new task. Perhaps record the meetings so that you can refer back to the instructions at a later time.”
University of Florida
Ian Ezring
We were excited to welcome Ian Ezring back for his second internship in the Proposals department under Henry Tran, Highstreet’s Executive Vice President of Strategy and Solutioning. A senior at the University of Florida, Ian dedicated his summer to gaining as much experience and knowledge as he could, specifically learning more about IT software and the future potential of this growing industry. Ian is getting ready to wrap up his degree in Business Administration in 2023.
Following his graduation, Ian hopes to find a job doing IT consulting. He is also considering continuing his education and potentially getting his masters in Finance. Beyond his time working at Highstreet, this summer Ian is taking a summer class while also weightlifting in his free time. Throughout the duration of his time spent at Highstreet this summer, Ian worked on a variety of projects. He took on the role and responsibility of documenting and organizing proposals and FOIA documents from competitor’s, aiming to find ways to improve future bids. Another project Ian was involved in was documenting litigation documents from proposals. Wrapping up his internship, Ian gained knowledge in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) where he aimed to increase traffic to Highstreet’s website from our blogposts. Highstreet’s Intern Program strengthened Ian’s Excel skills, professional communication ability, and aided in his learning of what goes into making a successful proposal.
His suggestions to future interns: “Don’t get caught up in the small details. – Things can look intimidating when you’re first getting started so just try to stay focused on the big picture. Don’t let the little details interrupt your work flow. Just understand that everything will come together in due time.”
In Closing
To conclude their internship, each student led a presentation for the HR team and Highstreet’s CEO, Nick Magliato. Each year the Highstreet team looks forward to hosting these interns because of the passion, inquisitiveness, and energy they bring to the program. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in participating in the Highstreet Internship Program, please contact humanresources@highstreetit.com.
