UVA Wise Alumna Helps Employer be Recognized on Virginia Intern Day
Last Thursday, the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP), the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), the Virginia Chamber Foundation and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council celebrated Virginia Intern Day across the Commonwealth. Virginia Intern Day (VID) builds off of National Intern Day as an excellent way to energize stakeholders about the powerful impact that work-based learning has on students. It showcases student-interns, employers and institutions that are instrumental in delivering work-based learning opportunities.
As a part of the celebration, V-TOP recognized 100 recipients of the 2023 Top Virginia Employers for Interns Awards, which recognizes Virginia employers who provide high-quality internships to students.
One of the many employers recognized was ENSCO, a company that provides engineering, science, and advanced technology solutions to government and private sector customers in the aerospace, national security and surface transportation sectors. In collaboration with her colleagues on the ENSCO Human Resource team, UVA Wise alumna Santana Vasquez nominated her company for their commitment to giving students the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge in a professional setting.
The internship experience at ENSCO allows students to play a key role in the work that is done. Their interns provide insight to critical programs and their ideas help shape the future of technology. Being a multi-faceted, state-of-the-art enterprise allows for individuals to come in and develop themselves professionally. Several internships at ENSCO have evolved into full-time positions due to their caliber of work and the mentorship they have received.
Since graduating from UVA Wise in 2007, she has kept close ties to the College. Vasquez connected with Tonya Nations, the Director of the Office of Career Discovery and Planning at UVA Wise and VTOP Project Lead, to discuss opportunities for students, which is where she learned of the Top Virginia Employers for Interns Award.
Vasquez currently serves as a capstone mentor, hoping to assist in guiding ENSCO interns down the path of success. She has taken what she learned from her alma mater and is paying it forward.
“I did an internship between my junior and senior year at UVA Wise. My time there taught me the importance of networking, which is something that I stress with every student I come across,” said Vasquez.
Vasquez cites her well-rounded liberal arts education as a huge asset in the marketplace, encouraging current students to see their time at Wise as a leg-up.
“My education at UVA Wise gave me a lot of things. Obtaining a liberal arts degree provided me with an understanding of a little bit of everything. I work on several different things throughout the course of my day and UVA Wise prepared me for that,” Vasquez added.
Donning her UVA Wise lanyard, Vasquez encouraged fellow alumni to get involved with providing internships for students, saying that it’s their chance to share UVA Wise with the world.