See where UF MBA Full-Time students are interning this summer

UF MBA Full-Time students are spending their summers interning in impactful roles for companies across the country. While most internships have gone virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these internships still provide an opportunity to put learning into practice at some of the world’s most respected brands.

Hear from four students as they experience their internships.

Rachelle Antoine, Owens Corning

“I am interning with Owens Corning as their Strategic Marketing intern as a part of their Strategic Leadership Development Program. I chose Owens Corning because of the culture of camaraderie and the challenging yet interesting projects. This summer, my project is focused on how to better serve and win with Hispanic Contractors. I love this project because it is a high impact project with leaders including the president of roofing and key VPs throughout the business. This summer has definitely been unexpected with the impact of COVID-19. As a result, I went from planning my summer housing in Ohio to awaiting the arrival of my company issued laptop. This summer has had its challenges like Skype/Zoom fatigue, unexpected changes, and shortened timelines. I have truly been thankful that Owens Corning sees the value in this program and has put forth immense effort to continue it. One of the biggest challenges I was worried about this summer was connecting virtually. Would it be possible to make the same connections I would have in person? Owens Corning has set up many opportunities to meet MBAs who are currently in their program, influential VPs and key leaders in the business. These happy hours have been both fun and creative like playing games on The Ellen Degeneres Show app Psych! Aside from my professional and business meetings, I personally started what I have dubbed “fun calls” where I meet with different people in the company and ask them about their personal lives, experience at Owens Corning and honestly anything that comes to mind. This has allowed me to get to know the people and better immerse myself in the Owens Corning culture.  In addition, I have found there are surprising benefits to working from home for my internship like dressing casually, the lack of an extra rent payment, and probably my favorite, being in Gainesville among my MBAs who are also doing their internships here. I’d say it’s been an unexpectedly good summer.”

Roger Assez, Nike

“Some of the best nights of my young life were spent in front of the TV, watching the Miami Heat with my family. Some of my best college days were spent in the gym or playing flag football on campus. I’ve been connected to sports my whole life so I’m hyped to be spending this summer as an HR intern with Nike. It’s been cool to learn about all the nuanced details that go into the strategy needed to serve athletes as such an iconic brand. I have a funny story about landing on the Total Rewards (TR) team, but I’ll save it for later. What I will say is I appreciate being on the TR team with such knowledgeable people willing to support me in my summer project and my career journey. The first part of my project is to understand and simplify Nike’s job architecture. In addition to my role in TR, the University Relations team has used the virtual format to deliver quality programming focused on various aspects of the Nike business from sustainability initiatives to the value of employee networks. I’ve also had the opportunity to attend Zoom calls with Lisa Leslie, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Simone Manuel, Dr. Khalil Muhammad, and Trevor Noah— all contributing to the understanding needed to identify and confront racism in America. Though I won’t be exploring Portland and Nike World Headquarters the whole summer, I’m thankful that I get to be part of Nike’s inaugural virtual internship cohort.”

Claudia Lorenzo, Microsoft

Kenny Williams, ExxonMobil

“This summer, I am working in Houston, TX for ExxonMobil as an intern in their Controllers organization. Specifically, I am working for the upstream division, meaning the part of the company concerned with getting the oil and other materials out of the ground. My project includes analyzing the royalty audits conducted by the federal and state governments to determine the monetary risk of those payments that have yet to be audited. I had the wonderful opportunity to start my internship at the office full-time but have since converted to a part-time work from home program as we battle the effects of COVID-19 in the Houston area. It has been a great opportunity to learn how to connect with people outside from the normal face-to-face interactions. Using Zoom and Skype technologies has allowed me to continue to network with my co-workers and make progress on my assignment. I’m excited to be able to work on a project that has real impact to the other members on my team and contribute to the goals ExxonMobil has for the year.”