Hi, my name is Alex Doherty. I am a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh, planning to major in Accounting and Finance. I am proud to announce that I will be participating in the London GBI summer program. For the next six weeks, I will be able to not only participate in a class centered around exploring and understand the city of London, but I will also be able to work for a startup named “In Good Company”, where I will be doing accounting work for them. This is a great opportunity for me, as I aspire to be an accountant in the future and this internship will be a fantastic first step in that direction.
When it came to choosing London, it was a relatively easy decision. This program stood out to me mainly because, while I did want to be able to have an internship, the ability to pair that with a class was incredibly appealing to me. On top of that, London is a city that I’ve never been to before, so this program serves as the perfect opportunity to immerse myself in a new culture and new city. Lastly, I have a lot of family in Ireland and England that I haven’t seen in a long time, and this program will hopefully give me the opportunity to see some family.
My goals for this program are not only to truly become antiquated with the London culture, but to better understand myself as a professional. This internship will be my first job not in retail, and so I am looking forward to seeing how I can adapt to a more office-like environment. I anticipate some challenges initially in getting set up and started, but I believe that I will be able to fit in with my company culture. I think this internship will provide me an opportunity to put my ever-growing knowledge of accounting onto a practical setting, and to test myself with my accounting skills.
When it comes to cliftonstrengths, I think my strength of being a learner will be beneficial to me as I start this program. With being in a new environment, and starting a job that I have no prior experience in professionally, I will have to juggle learning a lot of new material. By being a learner, I hope that I will be able to absorb all this new material that is being thrown my way, so that I can truly take this new material and use it. In order to keep up with my surroundings, and to not feel overwhelmed or overstimulated, I’ll have to use my skills as a learner to not only stay afloat, but to truly excel in this program.
Overall, I am incredibly excited to get started with this program. I have been looking forward to this program for months now, and it honestly still does not feel real that I am here in London. I can’t wait to meet new people, see new places, and just fully immerse myself in London for the next six weeks! I know they will go by quickly, but I hope to make the most of them while they last.
