Sophia Lis’ Blog Post #1: April 1, 2024

I am excited to begin the Academic Enrichment via Professor Gupta’s Corporate Social Responsibility course. Being an ethical individual and holding yourself responsible for your actions is crucial to being successful. I am a finance major, and it is so important in the field of financial services to understand the economic, legal and ethical responsibilities of corporations, and understand how to take action to align operations with these responsibilities. My expectation is to come to class prepared from doing the class readings, and be an active participant in the conversation. I hope to learn from both my classmates and Professor Gupta in these discussions. I read the Wall Street Journal every day so I am looking forward to reflecting on an article I find interesting each week! I also hope to gain insight on how to be a trustworthy leader in the financial services field. 

 

I think the Academic Enrichment via Gupta/Swain Internship Seminar will be a great opportunity to further my understanding on accounting topics and learn through participating in class discussions. I enjoy actively listening and being able to discuss topics with my peers. Hearing others’ insights and perspectives is so important and I think I will learn a lot from the professors and also my peers. My expectations are to learn more about what field in finance I want to start my career in and learn how to best prepare for interviews. This will be a great opportunity to gain exposure to different career paths. I also hope to learn new topics to add/change to edit my resume to ensure it is strong for applications. 

 

My expectations from the internship is to ask questions and learn as much as possible throughout my time in Milan. This is such a unique opportunity to explore the European financial markets and I hope to understand the difference between doing work in the United States compared to in Europe. Although I am not exactly sure what my internship is at this time, I hope to build a connection with the people I work with and contribute positively to the work being done. I am excited to start my first internship and I hope it prepares me well for the future! I hope to make new contacts and stay in touch with the people I work with to expand my network. 

 

I am most excited for the cultural immersion through group and personal travels. I have signed up for both field trips offered through IES, the Lake Maggiore trip and the Mountain Retreat Adventure, and am looking forward to learning more about Italy and experiencing the culture first hand. I think the Italian language class will be a great opportunity to better understand the language and I hope to be able to use what I learn for the remainder of the trip. My expectations are to get to know everyone on the trip and find out more about the culture together through group activities and spending time outside. I am on the women’s soccer team, so I also may try to find a soccer team to join in the area!