Sophie Nguyen, Santa Clara Consulting
Upon my first few months of college, I applied and joined Santa Clara Consulting, or SCC, in winter quarter. Since then, our group, which has grown to 16 current members, works on quarterly projects twice a year. We do our own client outreach and work on 10-week engagements with local startups and non-profits, where we can expand our learning beyond the classroom.
Most recently, we completed a project for a company in the LinkedIn Top 50 Companies list: Plenty. A sustainable vertical farming company based in San Francisco, Plenty tasked us with intensive research and solution proposition—all in an industry the majority of our team was unfamiliar with. Even though this was my fourth project in my two years of membership, I found myself struggling to find all the information we needed.
Despite this, our team found ourselves meeting up to do research together, working at odd hours of the night to piece together our project, and send each other articles that we knew another one would need.
The project turned out great—we presented our research, and our point of contacts were happy to receive our final deliverable. More importantly, I saw progress. As our team grew, we also got closer, and I started seeing this group as my family more than as my group of colleagues. I’d never felt closer to a group of motivated and hard-working people, and every project we complete is just proof of our collective abilities.
As I reflect before entering my final year of college, I realize that joining SCC was a formative decision. It gave me a chance to learn about different industries and companies I probably wouldn’t have encountered until graduation. It kickstarted my involved membership in two other organizations, and I have found a tight-knit community in which I feel comfortable.
The idea of going out of my comfort zone upon entering college scared me, and yet, taking a leap with SCC has led me to a thorough career and internal search. I am excited to be a project manager for the upcoming project, and with that, I hope to continue to guide the group and build relationships with the team as those in the past have done for me.