By Intern Nandini Kolli
When I applied to the Pension Boards Summer Internship Program, I did not have many expectations. But after joining the internship everything changed. The Pension Boards is an organization that believes in “doing good” for mankind. They believe in faith and finance.
The interns were expected to participate in weekly one-on-one leadership roundtable sessions with select PBUCC staff to learn not only about the work they do but also about our academics which could help us to grow beyond PBUCC.
The main part of the internship was the Capstone Project where all 10 interns brainstormed solutions for the project. This project made us learn from one another, caused us to work as team, and gave us the opportunity to bond with one another. It was fun working together with 10 diversified brains!
Most importantly, PBUCC is very diversified in culture. This is very rare to see an organization. I gained a new sense of professionalism and a clearer view of what it meant to be in the professional world. The life experience of the staff members shared each week helped me learn that it doesn’t matter how you start in your career; if you love the work that you are doing, you can always be successful.
My favorite week in the internship was Employee Engagement week where all the employees came together to celebrate. We had a lot of fun with games, a multi-cultural luncheon, and meeting new employees and interacting with them.
Interning at PBUCC has given me with cross-cultural skills and qualities, and has provided me with greater knowledge and understanding about the intersection of Faith and Finance. My time here helped me grow personally, be an extrovert, and gain internal audit experience, which I never had. Even though the audit performed here is completely different from the one I performed back in my home country, I learned a great deal under the guidance of Anna Ng. Melissa made sure I was comfortable with all the work I was assigned, and I understood each task provided. I gained newfound confidence in myself and my abilities to strengthen my career development. We were also given the independence to work on the assignments with no time frame which helped us explore better solutions.
I must thank my supervisors Anna and Melissa for supporting me even after my mistakes and permitting me to walk through a distinguishing opportunity. I also want to thank Paul for the support he provided for the Capstone Project; and special thanks to HR team for making everything easy.
Overall internship at PBUCC is an unforgettable memory. I would like to thank other interns who worked alongside me and helped me during this period. I enjoyed my internship here and I sure would love to find myself back here again.