Winner Ellie Pickford interned at A Justice Design/Make It Mine
TREVOSE, PA – September 14, 2021 – The Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) today announced it has awarded a $1,000 college scholarship to a student who wrote a winning essay about her experiences in ASI’s annual industry-wide summer internship program.
The winner, Elizabeth (Ellie) Pickford, is a sophomore at the Virginia Military Institute. Pickford, of Gilroy, CA, interned at A Justice Design/Make It Mine (asi/260003). In her essay, the aspiring mechanical engineer described the numerous on-the-job lessons she learned over the summer and how she expects them to serve her throughout her future career.
“I learned how to be a good worker, how to make the most out of an ostensibly imperfect situation,” Pickford wrote. “These lessons will stay with me when I develop the world’s first completely synthetic transplantable organs. These lessons will be with me when I am in meetings and when I give presentations and when I work with others.”
The ASI Summer Internship Program is free to ASI members who hire one or more interns to work at their company. This year, 230 young people participated at 17 supplier and 130 distributor companies, with many working remotely owing to the pandemic. According to ASI surveys, 93% of participating managers say they’d recommend the program to others.
“ASI has helped train and mentor 1,300 interns since launching our industry intern program in 2016,” said Timothy M. Andrews, ASI president and chief executive officer. “In my 18 years at ASI, that’s probably my proudest achievement. I thank all of the promo companies for participating and hope the students gained a deeper understanding of why millions of businesses worldwide depend on promotional products to help them communicate their message and thank and inform their customers.”
A team of ASI editors read each of the essays submitted by this summer’s interns, looking for students who made the most out of their experience.
ASI supplies participating interns (#PromoInternASI) with a webinar education series and industry overview, an ASI welcome kit of promotional items, an intern portal with program resources and job aids, and a certificate of completion along with the chance to compete for a scholarship.
Registration for ASI’s 2022 industry internship program opens in January, with start dates generally ranging from mid-May to mid-June.
For more info, visit internprogramasi.com or contact ASI Marketing Manager Christine Shaw at [email protected]. ASI also provides tools on the intern website to help members find interns.
About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI®; uat-asicentral.com) serves a network of 25,000 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the $20.7 billion promotional products industry. ASI’s flagship product, the technology platform ESP®, manages the industry’s entire supply and marketing chain. ASI also produces award-winning digital content, live events and educational programs that enable companies in 53 countries to be more efficient, productive and profitable. ASI’s media and research operation provides the most authoritative business content in the industry, and the ASI Certification Program features 200+ live and online education courses for industry professionals. The company, family-owned and -operated since 1962, is proud to have been consistently ranked among the “Best Places to Work” in Philadelphia and Bucks County, PA.