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Thursday, February 15; 200l- Page 6 COMMENTARY A student's perspective: the value of an internship. Amy Bittinger discusses the true of projects and clients. My first two weeks my confidence. It proved to me, for the first land College. meaning of an internship through at Aon I compiled data for an auditor's re- and only time in my college years that all of But, I wasn't the only one to benefit from her experience at AON. quest. This is where I quickly learned Ex- my hard work was paying off and was valu- the internship. Aon benefited as well. In an cel. I imported data from DOS and format- able. economic way, the work that I did was While most of my friends spent their ted it in Excel. After that, I spent a lot of My experience writing for the Phoenix rate an hour, to clients at a nominal summer hanging out, waiting tables at a ID- time filling out government forms includ- enabled me to more effectively write discus- charged regular full-time employees are while eal restaurant, or cashiering at a local liquor ing the 5500s and attachments and PBGCs. sion sections of financial reports. Myexperi- charged at a much higher rate per hour. store, I was in my own cubicle with a com- Ifilled out the forms based on financial re- ence with all of my clubs and organizations Furthermore, interns can be given more puter, phone, pass card, and company paid ports and data valuation runs. helped me to understand that a task cannot metro pass. As I worked there more. I participated be completed inaccurately. mundane tasks and assignments that would T was dressed in a charcoal colored in the be inefficient for full-time employees to pantsuit or khakis with a nice button-down D e - In col- work on such as filing, checking data, and shirt. I was hired as a summer intern to work fi ned I was convinced that the three-month lege, stu- envelope stuffing. Istuffed two pieces of pa- One afternoon in the actuarial department of Aon Benefit dents can in per into each of over 1,200 envelopes. The hand Consulting's Baltimore office. trainings internship was the single most valuable hom e- biggest advantage that Aon benefited from I applied for the internship in April of and experience in thefours years that I have w 0 r k having interns is that they had the opportu- 2000 because I wanted an experience that asked a f u I I Y nity to see how the interns worked so they would add to my well-roundness and pre- lot of been an undergraduate student. knowing could decide if they wanted to hire their in- pare me for what was to come after gradua- ques- that it is terns for full-time employment or not. tion. tions to improve my employee benefit not right or completed, but in a professional In the case of the group of interns of At the end of summer, I was convinced knowledge and my actuarial mathematics. setting tasks must be done thoroughly and ac- which I was a part, they gained two full time that the three-month internship was the single So when government forms were com- curately. employees. The internship was also an op- most valuable experience in the fours years pleted, Ibegan working on calculating indi- My experience with lacrosse gave me a that I have been an undergraduate student. vidual benefits for retired and terminated chance to understand a team attitude, in which portunity for me to see if I wanted to be a pension actuary, and if so, if! wanted to work Th~ internship exposed me to office life, employees of our clients. I also had the op- Aon is organized. Iwas the doer, a co-worker at Aon. etiquette, and procedure. While at Aon, an portunity to test programs that were created was the checker, and as associate was the I cannot think of a better way to have employee benefits consulting finn, Ilearned to perform these individual benefit calcula- finalizer. spent the summer between my junior and about actuary science, a field that I am con- tions. Even though I was merely a college stu- senior years of school as well as three days sidering entering. Other tasks that I had included the less dent, I had an important role that could not a week in my fall semester. And I am sure I also gained extensive experience and exciting archiving of old files, filing of docu- be taken lightly. Also, in terms of the math- that when T embark on my career after gradu- knowledge of Microsoft Office, which has ments and correspondences, and more re- ematics required for the job, I was thoroughly ation, I will be well prepared. also benefited me in the math classroom. To warding jobs of doing valuation runs, com- prepared. - I wish that I could have had more in- the surprise of Aon, I had little know-how pleting expense disclosures, and report as- As a result of my internship, Ihave more ternship experiences to have an even better of that software, but because of my computer sembling. Ihad a ball using the binding ma- confidence in myself, what I have to offer to idea of what is out there. science background, Ipicked it up with ease. chines. a company, and all of the educational experi- I encourage all students to seek an expe- While at Aon, I did work on a vast array However, above all. my internship buill ences that I have had from Western Mary- rience similar to mine. Close call: studying matters Parking is not just annoying-- but dangerous Michael Wiles become accustomed. of this sort Aside from facing a situation myself, I gained a whole new perspective Sara Hoover enlightens us When I returned to my car around 11:2 As any by hanging out with many of myoid high about parking via her AM., I found myself unable to get my c: of my friends school friends over break. Several of them commuting experiences. out of the- mud. The ground was too wet. can confirm. my had failed out of school this past fall. I so when [tried to back up J found myseJ mantra of the guess. you never realize how important When I first sat down to write this ar- and my car stuck! Luckily, a man from the past two ~eeks studying is until you see how it can hon- ticle. I thought to myself, how redundant. grounds crew came by to help me out (thank has been one estly alter the course of your life. It cer- Practically ever issue of this paper has you, wherever you are). This instance sim- simple phrase: tainly makes you look at that history exam someone complaining about the parking on ply illustrates my point. "Man, it is good more seriously, does it not? campus. I never really realized how large When there are no spots, people par to be back." But, of course, it was not the studying the parking problem is, until I became a com- on the grass. But grass is called grass no Not that that I envisioned missing the most had I muter. Parking designated "Per Cornmur- not pavement for a reason. If the grass be- I dislike my ended my time here at WMC early. Don't ers Only" is hard to find, unless you plan to comes too soggy, someone could get hun. family and friends from back home. but there get me wrong; education and enlightenment walk half way around the campus. Then, Unfortunately. WMC would probably sug- is just a certain pleasure in returning to are both fun and exciting, But in the end, it maybe you would find about two or three gest it was their fault. but I'm not so sure i school after a six-week break-. well, at least really is the little things that you miss most Spots. which I that is true. there is a pleasure in returning to campus (the 01" all. am sure have al- Second, I thin "school" part I could do without). If you Not returning to WMC would have ready been ...when I tried to back up I that at least one agree with me that campus life is indeed a meant... no more nights in the pub, no more taken. beautiful thing, imagine how you would feel all-night study sessions with friends. and. Now before found myself and my car stuck! if you found out you would never return to most importantly, no more feelings of in- you start to re- Luckily, a manfrom the it. dependence-which might have been the mind me tfiar r found myself in this situation over win- greatest loss of ali. WMC is a small grounds crew came by to help ter break. Apparently, a 2.02 semester GPA. All of this really makes a person think. me out (thank you, wherever does not justify the $26,000 outlay of money And, what is more, it really makes someone my parents scrape up to send me to this fine appreciate what they have. you are). institution. I even capped the deal by fail- The next time that classes have you ing a class in my major, which, understand- down, remember that you are among the ably,just added insult to injury. lucky few that get to explore the opportuni- After much deliberation, as 1 am sure ties a college education provides. most of you were able to infer, my parents Remember that you should make the ab- and I struck a compromise and I have re- solute most of the experience. Unfortunately, turned to WMC, hopefully on the road to this means hitting the books as hard as you turning my act around. Now, having won a have to, and pushing yourself past laziness privilege and with a new sense of purpose, I and procrastination. am happy to finally be back on "the hill." In the end, as I hope you all will agree, Understandably, this situation got me the benefits and the eventual outcomes of thinking. Although most of us like to com- our labor (i.e. graduation) make everything plain about the rigors of college life (people well worth the effort. Unless, of course, you like me that is), the world that exists outside live in Rouzer Hall. Not one positive out- a college campus is quite different from the come exists that could justify having to live f "!.:' :'..wOl;ldto~~c!J?,.e.~s,c9negJ::students,have in th.at.P}~ -, l •• ~•.',.,'. .'. ~.~(.'.:'