Ayishata Menko ’24 is a management and leadership major who recently completed an internship with the national retailer CVS. Ayishata’s work was supported by a McDevitt Fellowship, which allows students to avail themselves of professional experiences that might not otherwise be possible financially. The undergraduate reflected on what the experience was like with Le Moyne’s Office of Communications.
Office of Communications (OC): Please start off by sharing a little bit about your internship site, for example, what the organization does, what happens there?
Ayishata Menko (AM): I had the opportunity to work at CVS this summer. While CVS is well known as both a pharmacy and a retailer, I was given a retail management internship, meaning that I oversaw the entire store. Our customers rely on us for many of the things they need every single day, so it was important to me to do a good job. There were definitely challenges, as there are in any professional setting, but overall it was a tremendous experience that strengthened me as a professional and as a person.
OC: What were your primary responsibilities in your internship, or what was a typical day like for you?
AM: Over the course of my internship became familiar with the business practices and principles adopted by CVS and ultimately developed a regimen to meet the company’s standards and expectations. My responsibilities were wide ranging, but they included counting money, handling daily compliance issues, monitoring inventory and addressing customer needs and complaints. It was pretty wide ranging!
OC: How would you complete this sentence: The best part of my internship was ...
AM: … that it showed me how much I am capable of accomplishing.
OC: How did you change or grow over the course of your internship?
AM: I came to understand that a company’s success is entirely dependent on its customers and that, without them, nothing else matters. Yes, I encountered challenges, but I also developed the ability to focus on my energies on what mattered most in those situations – the people we served. I discovered that, especially when you are working with the public, mistakes can happen, but they can also be corrected.
OC: What are your professional plans for the future?
AM: To work in the hospitality industry.
OC: How would you complete this sentence: I hope to use my Le Moyne education to make the world ...
AM: … a safer place to live.
This is part of a series of question-and-answer sessions with Le Moyne students who recently completed meaningful, transformative work as interns for a range of businesses, government entities and nonprofit organizations. For more information on finding an internship opportunity at Le Moyne, visit the Office of Career Advising and Development.