When Kyrsten Lucas applied for a summer internship at Pfizer in Groton, Conn., she knew it was a competitive process. (Only 3% of applicants were accepted this year.) Thanks to the support and preparation she received at Mitchell College, she felt well equipped to pursue the opportunity.

“Earlier in the year, I had an informational interview set up by a Mitchell alum at Pfizer, which Paul Dunn, Integrative Career Services coordinator, encouraged me to do,” said Kyrsten, a business management major. “I found out about the internship program through the interview. When I decided to apply, Paul was with me through every step of application process. It was very helpful.”

After applying Kyrsten received an invitation to interview virtually with three people. Pfizer ultimately offered her a 12-week, full-time internship in the Global Material Management division as a controlled drug operations intern. She is one of just 300 Pfizer interns worldwide.

“Pfizer was looking for a self-starter for this internship, someone they didn’t have to guide the whole way. I attribute my success as an applicant to Dr. P’s [James Patsalides] two business lab courses: Improving Business Operations and Managing Ops Improvement.”

“In the courses we were given a problem to work on and had to figure out a solution without much guidance, just like in the real world. As part of the business lab, I worked with Michael’s Dairy and Keith Padin, business operations manager for Mitchell’s Auxiliary Services. I was leader of a marketing team that developed a loyalty program. Through that role, I was able to direct the path that our team took, from ideation to talking to the client to implementation. During my Pfizer interview, I shared the projects that I worked on. Being able to speak to a real-world experience without actually having the real-world experience helped a lot.”

Working as an intern in operations at Pfizer, she said she is assigned a project and “then it’s up to me to come up with the steps,” leaving her to figure out how to tackle the work.

“In my courses at Mitchell, Dr. Patsalides didn’t give us a lot of details for our assignments,” she said, and “I am so thankful because I see it’s the same in the real world. It was great preparation for the work I am doing now.”

Every day of her internship is different, and she works on multiple projects.

“In my area we sometimes work with Environmental Health and Safety, which is responsible for monitoring things like water quality and emissions, as well as safety procedures. Some projects that I am working on include creating a video for safety training for our building, digitizing an order form, and looking at standards and software for implementation and optimization of operations. I am also helping with a big archival project related to controlled substance documents.”

“I have two offices on site. One is a cubicle where I work on Excel sheets and analysis. I use Excel a lot to compare data and am grateful for my Excel class at Mitchell. My second office is a desk in the warehouse. Operations is a fast-paced environment, especially in Global Material Management. We are responsible for getting every scientist onsite the materials they need, and we have to do it fast.”

She thinks being captain of the Mitchell women’s basketball team played a part in securing her internship and contributes to being successful in it.

“Mitchell sports helped me with time management skills and leadership. As a student-athlete, you have to be able to balance multiple things at once,” she said.

In addition, Kyrsten makes many presentations related to her projects and will do a culminating Student Growth Experience poster presentation at the end of her internship, something that all interns have to do. She said that the communication and presentation skills she learned at Mitchell have been helpful.

Her favorite part of the internship is the work environment and the people.

“I like networking and learning about what people are doing. Everyone is so welcoming and wants to show me what they are doing. They invite me to sit in on meetings, and I like hearing stories about how they got to where they are today.”

Now Kyrsten, a senior, is deciding the next step in her story.

“I always thought sustainability management was the path I wanted to take for a job, but now I am thinking about operations. I learned operations can include sustainability management, and I like that operations encompasses other things as well. Now I will have to decide if I want to go straight to graduate school or work in a job first.”

Whichever direction she takes, Kyrsten said Mitchell has prepared her well.

“It was helpful to go on informational interviews, learn about internship opportunities, and connect with alumni through the Integrative Career Development office. I also gained real-world experience through the protected environment of the classroom. Things like deadlines and expectations weren’t a surprise to me at all when I started my internship.”