Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts where we delve into the experiences of our summer interns here at AVIAN. First up, we are putting the spotlight on Anthony Lennon, a rising junior at Towson University, who has been interning with us in the finance department. With a keen interest in finance and business analytics, Anthony has been involved in numerous projects that not only hone his skills but also contribute significantly to AVIAN's success. Let's dive in and learn more about his journey so far.
1. Give a general background/introduction of yourself. (what school are you attending, what are you studying, what's your internship focusing on?)
My name is Anthony Lennon. I am a rising junior at Towson University. I am studying finance with a minor in business analytics. My internship at AVIAN is a finance internship; however, I am focusing more on the business analytics side here in the office.
2. What projects have you been working on for your internship?
I have been working on various projects; for example, my most recent project was a data scrub of various data dealing with contracts and employees. I went through the data and pulled data out, and organized data into one spreadsheet so it can be easily accessed. Another project I have been working on had to deal with the Quality Assurance team and comparing data with different contracts as well as subcontractors on a prime contract. To compare this data, I created various trends and graphs to compare variables like cost, schedule, quality, and performance, which overall compared contracts and subcontracts together.
3. What have you learned?
I didn’t expect to learn about the DoD and Navy as much as I did. I think that us very helpful information because I support the Navy by working for AVIAN so knowing who they are and their structure is very important to learn. I also learned the way contracts work and the competition with other companies. That is also very useful because contracts drive the business of AVIAN. Data, data scrubs, data audits, etc. are also things I have learned due to the vast amount of data associated with the company, contracts, employees, etc.
4. What’s your favorite project/task that you've worked on while at AVIAN?
My favorite task I worked on so far is the QA project which had me compare cost, schedule, performance, and quality between subcontractors and contracts. It was my favorite because it was interactive, and I got to express the data visually which was cool. The project was important because it helped show if subcontractors are performing poorly or great.
5. What surprised you the most about the work you're doing/working at AVIAN?
I think the importance of the work surprised me the most here at AVIAN. Before I started, I didn’t expect to deal with projects that are this important to the company – mainly because I was an intern. However so far everything I have worked on I have found to be an asset to the success of the company.
6. Where do you see yourself in the next year? The next five years? What are your goals?
In the next year I see myself trying to get another internship to better my skills. This will help to prepare me better for career opportunities. In the next five years I see myself working at a company and starting to establish myself for a career. My goals are to work as hard as possible and at the same time learn as much as I can so that I can use my talented skills when starting my career.
7. What were/are you looking to get out of the internship? Are you/did you get what you were looking for?
I was looking to gain knowledge about the finance field during my internship. I did not work in the finance department during my internship, which was a little disappointing, but I did work with various other departments which taught me so much about the data associated with government contracting. There is so much data for so many things and learning about it and how to display it was very useful to learn and perform.
8. Do you feel like you got the "AVIAN" experience?
I got the “AVIAN” experience during my stay here. The culture is very connected which made me feel welcomed. Plenty of activities were planned which made you feel apart of the company, and it was good time to talk and make connections with many employees of the company. The coming together as a whole sessions are what the AVIAN experience is about.
9. What rotation taught you the most outside of your normal discipline?
I think the contracts rotation was most beneficial because essentially contracts run this company. We got to learn the structure of a contract as well as the people involved on a contract. Having the knowledge of how contracts work helps you in your regular discipline to know what is going on because every discipline deals with contracts or people on the contracts.
10. Why did you choose to intern at AVIAN?
I choose to intern at AVIAN because their website seemed very professional and looked like a nice place to work. The employees in the interview were extremely professional and outgoing which made me think good of this company.
In his time at AVIAN, Anthony has undoubtedly shown us the value of curiosity and hard work. His experience reflects the diverse learning opportunities we provide to our interns, extending far beyond their chosen fields. Not only did he contribute to vital projects, but he also absorbed an understanding of our company culture—embodying the AVIAN experience. His story is a testament to the richness of an AVIAN internship, and we're excited to see where his journey takes him next. Stay tuned for more insights from our summer interns in the upcoming posts.
