Internships in a pandemic: Robins students make it work

Despite limitations due to COVID-19, many Robins students went above and beyond in their internships this past summer.

Three students interned virtually with VeteranCrowd, a group that connects veteran-led businesses to the resources they need to grow. Ciara Campbell, Sonny Aryeh, and Noel Lora Martinez, ’22, helped create marketing strategies for the company, including the production of podcasts that highlight veterans’ stories and veteran-based startups. Aryeh is continuing her internship through the fall semester.

“I assess and analyze the digital traffic of customers to the VeteranCrowd website, create and edit podcasts, construct advertisements, work on increasing traffic to the website, and manage social media platforms,” Aryeh said.

Pictured: Sonny Aryeh, Ciara Campbell, and Mihir Shroff, '22

Aryeh is grateful to be working with a company that is making a difference in the lives of so many veterans.

“Working for a veteran-based company has shown me how important it is to have integrity and respect for yourself, your work, your coworkers, and your clients,” Aryeh said. “I have learned so much about values to hold when working for and with others. Working on a team means cooperation, responsibility, and diligence because you are not only working by yourself but with others.”

In addition to her internship with VeteranCrowd, Ciara Campbell, ‘22, interned with Scratch Marketing & Media. She researched and analyzed marketing programs to develop social media strategy.

“I learned a lot about branding strategy for companies, campaign development, and the process of creating new offerings for public relations and marketing. I also learned how to create and design corporate social media content and produce podcasts.”

Campbell is continuing her internship with Scratch through the fall semester.

Mihir Shroff, ’22, interned with Dominion Energy on the CFO team.

“It was such a beneficial exposure to the world of corporate finance and investment banking,” Shroff said. “There is so much to learn from this company.”

The COVID-19 pandemic and following financial crisis were heavy on the minds of those he worked with, Shroff said. But, the skills he learned in his finance courses helped him navigate those conversations and gain a better understanding of how the energy company is reacting to the crisis. 

“I used a lot of the skills I had learned in my Investments class as well as Gateway Capital Management. They both gave me the necessary financial knowledge needed to understand the capital markets crisis that occurred in March and how it affects companies,” Shroff said.

All the students agreed despite the pandemic, they gained valuable experience interning remotely throughout the summer.