Student internship: a summer with real world data
An AAE AMP student shares about his summer internship position with leading manufacturing company, Novolex
From left to right: Ali Leist, Sr. Manager, Sustainable Operations; Creighton Campbell, Sustainability Intern; and Sarah Kircher, VP, Sustainability
Creighton Campbell, an Environmental and Water Resource Economics (EWRE) and Accelerated Master's Program (AMP) student, spent three months this past summer completing an internship as a sustainability intern with Novolex in Lake Forest, IL. Here he was able to gain data analysis skills for a nationally known manufacturing company of food and beverage services.
Read here about Creighton’s internship experience and how he used his skills from AAE courses to strengthen his time with Novolex.
While under the supervision of senior manager, Ali Leist, of Sustainable Operations, Creighton was able to participate in very niche reporting, data aggregations, and risk analyses for the company’s sustainability efforts. He added, “Being able to do so much meaningful work and larger projects while I was an intern was just an overall great experience.”
Creighton went on to explain that the work he put in for the internship was time-heavy but well worth the experience with the determination he put in. He said, “Real-world data is very messy; the vast majority of the work that goes into numbers or figures you see is behind the scenes. There were a few projects that I spent 20+ hours behind the scenes (one case up to 60) just cleaning and sorting data to make it usable.”
His determination and attention to detail reflected in his duties as sustainability intern.
A company’s sustainability efforts and practices are important to its ability to turn it into monetary value or savings. Creighton said, “There is no growth without sustainable growth. Being able to work with such knowledge, experienced, and passionate sustainability professionals really helped me to realize how big a part sustainability plays in many companies.”
Creighton gave credit to a handful of his AAE courses for his ability to conquer large data assignments within his internship. If it were not for courses like AAE 239, 297, 339, and 403, the daily tasks in statistical methods, tackling data in Excel, and conducting analyses for presentation would have not come so smoothly.
He further expressed how much AAE has helped him develop his professional pathway and how the opportunities for future AAE students are endless. He said, “I’ve never heard two people in the department say they want identical careers. Make the degree what you want it to be, after all it is agricultural and applied economics. Make it your own.”
Reflecting on the three months, Creighton found himself in an enjoyable position with welcoming professionals that were able to show him what it’s like to work with real data in the real world. He concluded with, “Getting this exposure to this field this summer has really solidified my career aspirations, and it’s safe to say I will be pursuing a similar role after I graduate.”