This past summer of 2020, Highstreet was pleased to have three interns join the company. Peyton Dexter, Rhea Nandra, and Natalie Zeltman had the opportunity to gain valuable experience in each of their specific departments: IT, Sales, and Marketing.
With Highstreet’s focus and expertise in Higher Education, not only do we help Colleges and Universities transform their business and student experience, but we also invest in the students themselves. We developed our paid internship program with students in mind, intentionally offering our interns valuable opportunities and experience in various departments as well as practical training, hands-on collaborative learning and strategic directives to help prepare them for a corporate career.
Peyton Dexter, a Computer Science student at Virginia Tech, spent his summer working with Chris Cox, Highstreet’s Lead System Analyst, in the IT department. Starting out in a more general intern role, Peyton initially assisted HR and accounting with their back-office processes. He eventually transitioned to working in IT. Over the summerhe worked on several projects including implementing a SharePoint IT self-service site, piloting interactive training sessions for recruiting processes and researching IT process documentation, as well as training in Cyber security best practices.
“Peyton is a dedicated and innovative intern. He rises to the challenge and exceeds expectations with creative solutions.”
– Chris Cox
Lead System Analyst & Intern Supervisor
Peyton has enjoyed the internship program and plans to return and continue his internship over the Winter break.
Peyton’s Recommendations to Future Interns:
“Take notes while you’re on calls…When someone is assigning you a task, take note of the deliverables. Knowing what is being requested of you is crucial to being able to provide it.”
Rhea, a Finance student at The College of William and Mary, spent her summer with Highstreet’s Marketing Manager, Meg Phillips on several strategic research initiatives. Rhea led a significant research campaign of Highstreet’s competitors which included detailed analysis, hands-on experience with multiple tools, organization and reporting of data and working directly with clients to request and analyze relevant public records. Rhea has prepared reports and led presentations directly for both Highstreet’s CFO and CEO during her time as an intern.
“Rhea has been a valuable & trusted asset to our team. She is an organized and thorough self-starter who consistently goes above and beyond what is requested of her.”
– Meg Phillips
Marketing Manager & Intern Supervisor
Rhea has continued to support Highstreet for several small part-time projects throughout the year including analysis and development of custom reporting for Highstreet’s sales opportunities and win rates. Rhea plans to continue her internship over the Winter break.
Rhea’s Recommendations to Future Interns:
“The responsibility I had over this summer at Highstreet was unparalleled by my other internship experiences. I gained the most from this opportunity because I was able to follow my assignment from its data collection stages to the development of strategy recommendations. For future interns, I’d recommend thinking about how your work will impact the company as a whole and capitalizing on the great mentorship offered by Highstreet team members.”
Natalie, a Grove City College alumnus, holds a B.S. in Entrepreneurship and Biblical & Religious Studies and joined Highstreet’s marketing team in June. Working with Highstreet’s Marketing Manager, Natalie focused her summer internship on refining Highstreet’s social media marketing strategy, uniform branding, and initializing a website redesign project.One of her highlights of the internship was launching Highstreet’s Facebook page and closely defining each social media platform’s unique content offering.
“Natalie has been an integral part of the marketing team and has seamlessly integrated as a valued and respected team member offering insight and expertise as Highstreet refines and updates our marketing plan. She is a creative and driven associate who consistently produces the highest quality deliverables.”
– Meg Phillips
Marketing Manager & Intern Supervisor
Natalie has continued in her marketing role with Highstreet and Highstreet looks forward to bringing her on as a full-time employee in 2021.
Natalie’s Recommendation to Future Interns:
“When going into a new industry, keep a list of all the acronyms! Coming into my internship I had difficulty keeping up with conversations when co-workers are using dozens of acronyms. Once I started a list, I could keep track of what was what, and ask for help on the ones I couldn’t figure out.”
Each of our interns completed their internship by leading a presentation for the HR team and Highstreet’s CEO, Nick Magliato.Highstreet values its interns and looks forward to continuing to expand our program and invest in the future. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in an internship with Highstreet, please contact humanresources@highstreetit.com
About Highstreet IT
Highstreet provides professional services and business modernization for Oracle enterprise applications on premises, in the cloud, or both. We solve business problems with unmatched expertise, proprietary tech, and a results-driven approach.
