Last June, Wesley Romero ’24 joined 60 other college students as an intern at Atlanta-based Georgia Pacific, an international manufacturer of paper products, paper-based packaging, cellulose, specialty fibers and building products. Assigned to accounting and finance, he soaked up the experience, asked to sit in on extra meetings to learn more about the company and finished the summer with a job in hand.
Wesley assisted the team managing a business inventory dashboard that displays interactive metrics across product building, packaging and consumer products, with a live map tracking U.S. and international movements of Georgia-Pacific’s finished goods. To keep the dashboard up to date, Wesley’s team ran reports based on facilities’ monthly and annual counts.
“I was helping to find variances in the inventory audits and then displaying the findings in presentation form for others in the company to see,” he explains. “It was a great way to learn about various reports, to understand how big the company is and to see how different entities in the company work together. I was exposed to new accounting software, and I learned about the diverse accounting tactics for each area of the business to support accurate inventory.”
Wesley says the most impactful part of the internship was the company culture and its investment in interns. A formal evaluation at the end of the summer commended Wesley’s commitment to execution but encouraged him to be bolder and more innovative — followed by the ultimate reward, a job.
Looking back on his Berry experiences, Wesley notes his LifeWorks position as the student manager of the president’s office prepared him for this career move. Held to a high standard with responsibility for specific projects, he says, “I practiced leading teams, running meetings and learning to delegate. It gave me a corporate-like experience that taught me to take ownership and ask good questions when I don’t understand something.”
He also offers this advice to students seeking internships: “Be a part of the clubs in your major. Get involved and get to know the faculty. I met people from Georgia-Pacific at a club meeting, and my faculty advisor encouraged me to apply. Take advantage of your time and network at Berry College.”
