CofC Podcast: How a Summer Internship Offers Marketable Skills, Launches Careers

On this episode of the Speaking of … College of Charleston podcast, Nick Plasmati ’18, associate director of marketing and academic programs in the College of Charleston Honors College, speaks with Sydney Pearson, a junior Honors student majoring in systems engineering, about her summer internship. Pearson interned as a project manager at the Mercedes-Benz Vans production plant headquarters, where she developed data-driven tools to make the production process more efficient for MBV employees across the world.

Pearson says the soft skills she learned from her colleagues and mentors at Mercedes-Benz will benefit her personally and professionally in the future. And she has a little advice for CofC students interested in pursuing an internship, too.

“It’s never too early to start looking for an internship,” say the recipient of the Shalosky Family Engineering Leadership Scholarship, the Class of 1938 Golden Anniversary Scholarship and the Engineering Scholarship. “As soon as you get to college, you have the opportunity to intern at different companies. Never say no to an opportunity. The biggest thing that I would tell any new intern is to just go for it!”

Featured on This Episode:

Sydney Pearson is a systems engineering major and mathematics minor at the College of Charleston. A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, she has always had a passion for leadership and mentorship, and exercises both of these activities through various campus organizations including the School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering Ambassador Program; Charleston Fellows; the Engineering Club; and Army ROTC. Outside of the classroom, Pearson enjoys traveling, long days on the beach, exercising and exploring Charleston. She is a recipient of the Shalosky Family Engineering Leadership Scholarship, the Class of 1938 Golden Anniversary Scholarship and the Engineering Scholarship.

Resources From the Episode:

CofC Army ROTC

CofC Engineering Club

Shalosky Scholarship

CofC systems engineering student opportunities and internships

Day in the Life of Sydney | Systems Engineering Major | College of Charleston