In the current state of the world, it’s been tough for everyone to find comfort in trying to remember that they are not alone. It’s been even tougher to find motivation to make the most out of the situation.
A student professional organization at the Fox School of Business has sought to help students make lemonade out of lemons, however.
The Gamma Iota Sigma Chapter (GIS) has been publishing articles written by students on how they overcame challenges faced during this pandemic, whether it’s how they fought back from losing internships or struggled to find work. GIS calls this article lineup “Lemons to Lemonades.”
Fox students Stephen Nispel and Sabrina Brzozowski have been put in charge of creating this series of articles.
“We wanted to highlight the grit of Sigma chapter members,” says Nispel, actuarial science, BBA ‘20. “Over the summer, students typically put what they’ve learned in the classroom to good use during an internship. At the end of last semester, many of those were cancelled. Lots of things were uncertain.”
Many students’ stories have already been told. So far, Lemons to Lemonade holstered Matt Persichetti’s cancelled internship that turned into another internship focused on the healthcare industry, Shelby Green’s virtual internship at EOS Venture Partners and Yasmeen Zoheir’s online work at Johnson, Kendall & Johnson, Inc, all over the summer.
Stephen Nispel“Lots of companies see internships as their main source of recruiting, so this had the potential to hurt them, too,” Nispel says. “Instead of the traditional summer internship at a company, most students thought outside the box. There were various externships and virtual internships created by companies and things like that, so we wanted to highlight that.”
Stories like these are important in a time like this. Not only do students have to face the grind of everyday life, but so do staff members, faculty groups and non-academic members of society. Seeing the success other people have had may influence others to showcase their own grit through the coronavirus pandemic.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and maybe squeezing some fresh juice out of fruit is what it will take to get us there.
“It really shows how adaptable our students are and how they continue to strive for success even when the future is uncertain,” Nispel says.