Name: Laquazia Bell

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Independent Can

Major(s)/Minor(s): Mathematics; Acturarial Track

Expected Graduation Year: 2016

Briefly describe your internship, co-op, research, or service-learning opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

As the lithography technical intern at Independent Can my first project is to find the main causes to Lost Time on their 6-unit press. Currently I have found all issues, narrowed the list to 3 main issues to focus on, determined their root causes, and now I am brainstorming and researching on solutions to eliminate or minimize Lost Time.

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I live in an area that is home to many industrial companies. I looked through Google Maps to search the companies in my immediate area since I am limited by my mode of transportation. I narrowed the companies down to ones I'd be interested in and visited their web pages or searched through various job search engines to see if they had any job postings. On independent cans website I found the posting for the internship I now have and applied. To prepare for my interview I was unaware of the mock interview I could have gotten through the school. Instead to prepare I used resources another company I applied with, Accountemps, had online that gave advice on how to prepare for interviews. It was incredibly helpful and made me feel and look a bit more prepared and competent during my interview.

Which of the following resources did you use to find your current experience?

Career Center, UMBCworks

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

The open atmosphere. It is my first position in a professional setting and I appreciate that at Independent Can. I am able to wean myself into the business instead of being thrust into it.

What have you gained from your experience that you could not have gained from another opportunity?

Time to build myself. Right now I am tasked to come up with solutions to the issues that I have found, I have a deadline but I am given plenty of room to think, everyone makes me feel comfortable enough to ask the questions I need answered in order for me to come to conclusions, regardless how tedious my questioning.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

If you can, take the time to ask the questions you need to get your job done right. It's an internship and we're supposed to be learning so when we start our careers we're prepared.

Please provide a short quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / the internship placement process.

Living in a how-its-made episode everyday while learning the basics for my future career.