NJCEIA Annual awards ceremony - june 10, 2010

On June 10, 2010, we held our annual awards banquet at the Rutgers Club again in New Brunswick, NJ. We were very excited to present our student of the year awards and practitioner of the year award.

In addition, we were delighted to have a former NJCEIA student of the year award winner as our keynote. Keith Cassidy, the 2009 NJCEIA 4 year winner and 2009 American Society for Engineering Student of the Year completed his bachelor and master’s degrees from Stevens Institute of Technology and works as a Senior GIT Analyst for the Movado Group. He shared his perspectives and values of cooperative education along with his global “real world” experiences at Movado.

The awards presentations began with the two-year school award winner, Virginia Borough a Fashion Merchandising major from Middlesex County College. Virginia completed her internship in the summer 2009 as a merchandising Intern with Phillips Van Heusen, IZOD in Bridgewater, NJ.

During her internship she completed a marketing proposal that was presented to an audience of over 80 people, including top level executives and the CEO of the company. She incorporated her own creative ideas including an interactive golf website for the IZOD brand, a real-life text message sent to their audience, a profit gain analysis, reusable shopping bags which advertised their new marketing campaign, as well as many aesthetic features of the PowerPoint.

Another notable achievement was the coordination of a community service event in which school supplies were collected for needy children in the Somerset community. Because of Virginia’s hard work, creativity, and motivation, the Bridgewater office collected twice as many donations compared to the previous year. Her supervisor notes her achievements by saying, “Virginia worked well with all members of our team, and she was completely dependable, communicated effectively and could follow directions quickly and explicitly. Virginia’s performance was everything we expect in our interns and more.”

As a result of Virginia’s accomplishments throughout her internship, she was offered a full-time position with PVH. Now a May 2010 graduate, she’s currently working as a Customer Service Representative.

The four-year school award winner was Nicole Spagnolia from Seton Hall University. Nicole, now a rising senior, interned as an IT Programmer with Beacon Healthcare Communications during the summer of 2009.

During her internship, Nicole completed a database design project. As a result of being a quick learner, she had the opportunity to work on two live websites, participate in client meetings, and create a proposal of a mock website used to pitch to a client. In fact, the proposal was quickly accepted by the client.

Nicole not only excelled in her internship but also in leadership. Upon starting her junior year, she served as a Director of Marketing for her sorority, where she launched an award-winning website.

Her internship supervisor acknowledges Nicole and her notable achievements by saying “Nicole’s experience was not ordinary. She didn’t live at the periphery of our tasks, but because of her energy, her talent, her intelligence, and her character, was right in the thick of it with the rest of them.“

The last award, Practitioner of the Year award, was presented by Amy Donahue. The recipient of this year’s award went to Tammy Samuels at Rutgers University. No one knew who won, not even the winner! Tammy was nominated by a graduate intern along with her supervisor.

Tammy has been the principal architect and coordinator of the university wide Rutgers Internship & Co-op Program, having designed its infrastructure, including policies, procedures, and documentation. She created and teaches the online internship course, syllabi too, which includes course assignments, a reflection paper, and weekly journals, to name a few. Tammy took initiative in developing, implementing, and managing a comprehensive marketing plan as well. She brings her organizational, project management, communication, and teamwork skills to the program and all of her endeavors.

The respect Tammy has earned and the professionalism she embodies extends to her role in professional organizations. While serving as the VP of Awards and Recognition for NJCEIA, she has assisted with benchmarking, survey design, and programming. One member of the board notes her contributions by saying, “She possesses initiative. It is one thing to present an idea, but another to follow through on it.”

Tammy Samuels is the Assistant Director for Internships at Rutgers University – New Brunswick.

In closing, the NJCEIA Awards program provides an opportunity for students, employers, college practitioners, and families to celebrate the enlightening experiences that await students involved in cooperative education and internships. As with every year prior, we celebrated just that along with the notable recognition of our peers and students.