Written by Lexi Henry

I’m very excited to be back at the Venango Chamber for another summer! My junior year at Slippery Rock flew by but I am amazed at everything I have learned.

This past year I have taken classes specific to my finance major like Investments and Intermediate Corporate Finance, however, Entrepreneurial Finance was one of the most interesting because I could relate it to my internship. I enjoyed learning about all the business phases, funding options, and the regulations that must be met to stay in operation. It makes me really appreciate all the small local businesses because I know how much work they must put in to stay open.

I hold a chair position in 3 clubs, am a Peer Mentor through the Honors College at SRU, and have a work-study position as a Mailroom Attendant. These roles, as well as taking 18 credits each semester, keep me busy but also force me to work hard and put my best effort in each day. They challenge me with deadlines, encourage collaboration between myself and my peers, and give me real world scenarios to practice my problem-solving skills.

This internship over the past two summers has been a way for me to use my skills and creativity independently while constantly improving my methods of completing tasks. I have greatly enjoyed getting to connect with the local community and businesses through managing the OHF Parade and Basket Raffle and I am eager to hear from everyone soon about their submissions.

College has taught me a lot of technical aspects of the business world, but here I am able to use my skills in a more real-world scenario. For example, not all excel sheets are used for numbers and formulas because sometimes you just need to print mailing labels, or how you must always maintain professional language, but sometimes people get bored with Facebook posts without emojis and bright colors.

Everything requires a balance, and my internship here has really allowed me to discover that while also maintaining my skills and learning new ones.

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s June 2023 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.