Not too long ago, being an intern meant doing the grunt work in the office: taking coffee and lunch orders, filing, copying and everything else no one wanted to do. But lucky for my generation, companies like Samsung have a completely different outlook on the intern experience. Interns are now a part of the team with more influence than ever before: sitting in on meetings, voicing our opinions and managing important projects.

As my summer internship with the Corporate Reputation and Communications (CRC) team based in New Jersey comes to a close, I’d like to share some of the highlights and learnings from my past three months working on a variety of projects including an internal blog series highlighting what it’s like to be a Samsung intern.

•Tim Baxter and myself enjoying a quick picture after our interview

A quick snap with Samsung Electronics America President and COO Tim Baxter after our interview.

  1. I had the pleasure of interviewing executive such as President and COO of Samsung Electronics America Tim Baxter, EVP of the Consumer Business Division Joseph Stinziano, and VP of The People Team Tony Cicio, about their past internship experiences and their advice as we enter the next phase of our lives. “Stay hungry, but be humble…and embrace change,” Tim said. And Tony reminded us to “stay connected!”
  2. Not only did I learn from executives and my team members, but they got to learn from me. A fellow intern, Chelsea Alexander-Taylor, and I presented on the topic of Speaking Millennial – providing a glimpse into the mind of millennials, including why and how we use social media.

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    A definite highlight from my internship: co-moderating a Mini-Internship session featuring Billy Bush with Samsung Corporate Citizenship Director Ann Woo.

  3. I was also lucky enough to have an internship within an internship! Thanks to a unique program our Corporate Citizenship team developed called the Samsung Mini-Internship, a seven-week program for high school and college students. This program allowed attendees to gain insights into industries such as arts and culture, entertainment, food, media and technology – all within 90 minutes. This gave students a chance to cut to the chase and get to one of the best parts of an internship: hearing directly from industry leaders across a variety of fields.

    Interns admiring the view from the Highline to earn some point for their team during our NYC Scavenger Hunt

    Interns admiring the view from the High Line to earn some point for their team during our NYC Scavenger Hunt.

  4. Samsung balanced out the educational and experiential part of the summer with a whole lot of fun. They planned multiple events for the interns to get to know each other as well as our more experienced mentors throughout the company. Some of the activities included a scavenger hunt in New York City and a homemade waffle and ice cream day. At each event, I was reminded of the importance of making time to get to know my colleagues and supervisors outside of the office.
  5. Through my blog series, I was also able to learn through other interns. By interviewing them, I got to see how their departments function, giving me a greater understanding of how a corporate environment works. I also learned the importance of collaboration, communication and keeping deadlines. Another key learning was how hard it is to get 10 people into one room at one time, especially with a company like Samsung with offices across the country.

The learnings I gained this summer will be invaluable towards my future career. I want to thank everyone at Samsung for this incredible opportunity.