07/27/2022
This summer, Sendero welcomed six rising college seniors into our internship program. For the past ten weeks, Camdyn Shaw (Texas A&M University, Finance), Essie Klausmeyer (Baylor University, Economics and Marketing), Jihoon Choi (Southern Methodist University, Business Management & Music), Jillian Renken (Florida State University, STEM Entrepreneurship & Biophysics), JD Powers (University of Texas at Austin, Finance), and Trevor Doke (Texas A&M University, Finance) have experienced hands-on consulting project work and participated in Sendero’s internal initiatives.
Keep reading to learn more about their experience.
What made you want to apply to the Sendero internship program?
Camdyn: Sendero has been on my radar for a significant amount of time, but after I visited the Sendero table at my school’s career fair, I knew that I needed to apply. Employee engagement and company culture are big-ticket items for me, and I love how much emphasis Sendero places on its people. Combining that with the opportunity for hands-on consulting experience made this internship program surpass any others.
Essie: I met a few Senderoans at the Baylor Career Fair, and they all spoke so highly about Sendero’s culture. This really stuck out to me among all of the companies there. Later that day, I read through a few blog posts and more information about the internship program on Sendero’s website. I knew this was the place I wanted to be.
What has been your favorite project or initiative you’ve worked on this summer?
JD: This summer, I had the opportunity to create a dashboard from scratch that pulled end-user proficiency data, tracked it on a week by week basis, sorted by stakeholder group, and visualized in a way to track the differing levels of success and comfortability. Being able to provide my own touch on this dashboard through different heat maps, tracking statistics, and excel automation has allowed me to leave a lasting impact on our project.
Jihoon: My favorite initiative that I’ve worked on this summer was creating a cultural event for the DEI committee to present to Sendero. The fact that an intern can have such an impact in the committees is truly phenomenal. I can’t wait to see my idea come to life!
Jillian: My favorite initiatives I’ve worked on this summer have been with my committee, Sendero Cares. I’m very passionate about helping others, so it’s been rewarding to volunteer at multiple events, help organize the School Supply Drive, and meet weekly with other Cares team members. I especially loved getting to lead the volunteer event at Genesis Thrift Store in Dallas; it made me feel like I was truly making a difference in the community.
Trevor: The best piece of advice I received was from my supervisor. He told me that there is “no such thing as a dumb question, except for the question you don’t ask.” Honestly, I’ve heard this a lot in my life, but hearing it in a consulting environment was a bit different. At the beginning of the internship, I didn’t want to ask a lot of questions, because I felt it would expose that I really didn’t know anything. However, during onboarding the TA team talked about imposter syndrome. This is defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. They explained that imposter syndrome can cause you to miss out on a lot of knowledge. Learning that, coupled with what my supervisor told me, I now feel empowered to ask questions and am encouraged to learn as much as possible.