In turn with Keenan Smith

Hometown: Holden Beach, North Carolina

Concentration: Finance  

Internship employer: State Employees’ Credit Union

Internship dates: 8/29/22 – 12/14/2022

As a student who is expanding his knowledge daily, my duties at SECU were beneficial to my future success. This experience has helped shape my future. – Keenan Smith

What were your responsibilities during your internship?

My responsibilities included overseeing member interaction for services such as insurance policies, titling for loans, and account services, along with helping to organize SECU’s participation in the Nov. 9 Employer in the Foyer.

How did you apply what you learned in BUSI 1200, BUSI 2200, BUSI 3200 or BUSI 4200 to your internship?

Learning the operations of understanding a business in BUSI1200; acknowledging the importance of teamwork in BUSI2200; finding the strengths within yourself in BUSI3200; and executing task-based work in BUSI4200

What was the most challenging thing you experienced during your internship, and how did what you learned in the COB help you overcome it?

Being confident in myself and my long-term decisions were something that took a long time for me to understand and grow upon. The COB gave me a chance to find myself through multiple career fairs and numerous resources

How have you applied what you learned in your classwork to this position?

My classwork has an almost absolute correlation to the duties of my work. Learning and asking about services and their success towards members at the credit union is what I do my best to understand when creating examples to solve questions for exercises or assignments.

What has this internship taught you about responsibility?

This internship has made me aware of the independence and leadership needed to create a winning environment in all areas of work. “The opportunities which are missed is potential that is dismissed.” When you cannot stay ahead of others and have coworkers around you reach their full potential, you cannot be rewarded for your responsibilities.

Why would you recommend a business student take advantage of the Cunanan Center for Professional Success resources?

The grants and scholarships, along with events geared toward student success, are opportunities that are almost impossible to pass up.