Pathways Newsletter

September 2017

Summer Internships

Several of the Pathways Scholars from the first class had opportunities to participate in internships that gave them insights into the professional world and a jump start on their career exploration. Please read below for stories from two of them.

Megan Myers, Fisher Sophomore, Sandusky, OH
Internship Experience with NAWBO – National Association of Women Business Owners

This summer and continuing into this school year, I have been privileged to work as the Fund Development Intern for NAWBO, The National Association of Women Business Owners. As the Fund Development Intern, I have been working to create and implement the organization’s fundraising efforts for the newly formed NAWBO Institute, a 501(c)3 non-profit educational foundation that seeks to provide opportunities for capacity building and organizational development for emerging and established women entrepreneurs worldwide.

I have learned a wealth of information thus far including gaining valuable hands-on experience assisting with building a nonprofit from the ground up. As the Fund Development Intern, I have learned from my hands-on experiences with researching grants, composing letters of inquiry for grant applications, researching nonprofit fundraising strategies, constructing an effective fundraising campaign, creating promotional materials to generate support including a video and flyers, as well as working within the cutting-edge virtual environment platform. I have also learned beneficial business skills and practices from working with the women who are a part of one of the nation’s leading organizations, taking part in conference calls with other organizations, witnessing the collaboration of other organizations with NAWBO, as well as how to communicate and collaborate with women located across the country. In addition, I will have the opportunity to attend the NAWBO annual conference in Minneapolis next month and meet many women business owners.

Claire Thompson, Fisher Sophomore, Delphos, OH
Quality Supply Chain Co-op (QSCC) Summer, 2017

The first thing I noticed when I walked through the doors of Wendy’s Quality Supply Chain Co-op was the friendly, respectful atmosphere. Every associate is well aware of Dave Thomas’s original standards and they work very hard to uphold those even in his absence. I couldn’t have asked for a better first internship experience, where everyone was so willing to teach me and so grateful for the work I did for them.

My biggest project throughout the summer was organizing QSCC’s company family picnic at the Columbus Zoo which took place in August. Molly Miller and I worked together in communicating with the zoo for parking, food, face painting, decorations, and many other activities. I ordered items and created Wendy’s-themed gift bags for all the children that attended and was even able to bring my own parents to the event at the end of the summer so they could see what I had been working on. It was very rewarding to see what started as a plan develop into a successful day.

One of my favorite assignments was assisting in the hiring process of five new positions that were created while I was at QSCC. I edited and uploaded the new position descriptions to wyckwire, an online hiring tool, and monitored the applicants as their submissions arrived. We had some internal applicants apply as well, and Molly graciously allowed me to sit in on those interviews and deliberate afterwards. Not only did I get to experience the role of an HR Generalist in the hiring process, but I was able to witness some very good interviewees and hope to emulate their style in the future.

Overall, I had such a wonderfully educational summer. I had various other projects that were all so meaningful; Molly never assigned me work that I couldn’t talk about in an interview or use to improve my resume. Everything I learned about the operations of QSCC will definitely help me in my business classes in the future, and of course my eventual career. I consider myself a better person both personally and professionally from working at Wendy’s Quality Supply Chain Co-op.

Visit with Motorists Insurance

On September 18, the Pathways Scholarship students traveled to Motorists Insurance, located in the downtown Columbus Discovery District. Motorists Insurance Group is a mutual company with 1200 associates, over $725 million in premiums, and assets in excess of $1.7 Billion under management. The students received an overview of Motorists history since its founding in 1928, as well as a summary of the business model for a mutual insurance company from Ralph Smithers Jr., Assistant VP, Associate and Community Engagement. In addition, the scholars also received an overview of the Supply Management Services (SMS). The SMS department consists of 9 associates that work on all aspects of the supply chain including spend management, contract management, and negotiations. SMS partners with all business units within Motorists and has generated an impact of over $28M since its inception. The students toured the Enterprise Excellence center. The Enterprise Excellence group, led by Drew Buenger, works with businesses across Motorists to apply value stream mapping, kaizen and gemba techniques to streamline and improve processes.