Kayla Roesch

Altman Scholars Internship Program OverviewWhat is the Altman Summer Scholar Intern Program?!

The mission of the Altman Summer Scholar Intern Program is to prepare and engage un-dergraduate students who add value to organizations through meaningful work.

The Farmer School of Business, ranked 10th in the nation for undergraduate entrepre-neurship, believes that student learning and growth derives when they are engaged in meaningful opportunities where they are LEARNING and DOING. For this reason, the cur-riculum and program prepare students with the tools necessary to work in an entrepre-neurial environment. Essentially, students enter the host company with a toolkit and are immediate value-adds to the company.

The Institute for Entrepreneurship coordinates unique internships with startup and growth companies in Chicago, Cincinnati, and other regions. The Altman Summer Schol-ar Program is open to undergraduate students who are matched with early stage startup and growth companies for 10-12 week summer internships. In each internship, students are viewed as team members and are expected to add value to his or her host company.

What separates these students is the coaching, mentoring and relationship building that takes place during this cohort experience. Students meet weekly at various entrepre-neurial locations with faculty and other guest entrepreneurs to discuss the realities and challenges of entrepreneurial work. This coaching provides real-time support for both the student and the host company, and leads to a better understanding of how to make a positive impact throughout the internship.

To facilitate the opportunity for student to work on meaningful projects, the Institute offers a cost sharing opportunity. Through the generous financial support of Miami alum-nus John W. Altman (‘60 and Founding Director of Miami’s Entrepreneurship program), the Institute provides a reimbursement to the host company for part of what they com-pensate the intern.

Part 1: Host Company OverviewCompany Name: The Sandbox Agency

Company History:GA Communication Group combined with three other agencies in January, 2016. GA communication Group was founded over 30 years ago by Mark Goble’s, the current Chief Integration Officer, father. Goble took over the company after his father retired. In 2013, discussions began, and the company decided to be one of the founding members of Sand-box along with McCormick Company (Kansas City), Underline Communications (New York), and One Advertising (Toronto). They now employ over 350 employees with offices in Toronto, Chicago, New York, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Des Moines and Indianapolis. Each of these agencies brings a unique background. Kansas City contributes a background of the agriculture and food industry. Chicago and Santa Monica adds on healthcare experi-ence. New York contributes experience in electronic customer relationship management. The Toronto office has expertise is in digital media for consumer goods products. During my time at Sandbox, we added another member to the Sandbox, Two West out of Kansas City. Two West prides themselves on their consumer engagement capabilities with their clients’ consumer products. With knowledge of these industries Sandbox is able to create media of all forms and sizes. Sandbox prides itself on having access to many experienced professionals, thus providing a breadth in what they can do for their clients to create valu-able customer relationship, providing an insight to create personalized experiences for its vendors. They pride themselves on their collaboration model twist on the typical agen-cy model. With these combined agencies, the goal is to be able to collaborate between cities with the idea of creating better, together.

Business Model Type:Sandbox has the typical advertising agency business structure in each of it’s offices, with an account management team, project management team, creative team, senior level po-sitions, finance and human resources. While internally they run as a typical agency would, the idea of Sandbox, is that agencies can join, growing the agency to a midsize agency with a well known name, and the ability to produce better work with the mass amount of resources available. The idea is not that companies are being absorbed by Sandbox, but buying in to the collaboration and resources each location has to offer.

Part 2: Business Model

Problem: Sandbox (Chicago) sets out to make the lives of drug companies easier. We create re-sources that allow their sales reps to communicate to doctors efficiently and effectively. We are able to do this because healthcare companies do not have the breadth, resources, or knowledge to create a strategic marketing plan for their brands. At Sandbox, we have worked with many brands over the past 30 years and know what materials will efficiently reach market targets. Pharma companies do not have the resources and employees to create innovative work and marketing materials for their brands. Finally, with drug com-panies managing multiple brands, they do not have the time to manage the assets that come along with a creative marketing strategy.

Solution: Sandbox is able to solve problems for healthcare companies with our employees. Our employees come from a wide range of backgrounds both in the drug industry and outside of it. We are able to provide a variety of insights and share ideas, to be able to come up with the best solution possible. We have a creative team that is able to put these strate-gic ideas into a final product that we will be able to deliver to the clients. Finally, with the creation of Sandbox, we have access to multiple offices with more experience, with the idea that we can “create better, together.”

Key Metrics: There are many ways that Sandbox can measure their performance. First, we have client reviews. We give these twice a year. They ask a simple question, “On a scale of 1-10 how likely would you be to recommend Sandbox to a friend.” There is also a comment section. We compile these results to see how we performed. We continuously strive to improve. Next, with our deliverables to the client, we are able to evaluate the effectiveness of our work. First, for the emails we create, we are able to measure the number of email clicks and opens we receive. Next, need to look at downloads for the apps we create. We look at number of visits we have for the websites we are responsible for. In addition, we create pharma conference booths. We are able to measure the success rates for these by count-ing the number of visitors that come to see our booths and talk to reps. Finally, the over-all metric to evaluate is if the brand’s sales rates have increased since we acquired the brand.

Unique Value PropositionSandbox prides itself on not being just a vendor, they look to form relationships with their clients. As a company, Sandbox had the background and expertise to provide a point of view to their clients, forming relationships and connections, creating trust to build strong strategies and creative output in an efficient amount of time.

Unfair AdvantageSandbox’s unfair advantage is the relationships they have with both their employees and their clients. With the motto, “We work better, together” and “Playing together in the Sandbox”, the company focuses on collaboration and the building of relationships, even outside of work. This model allows the company to build their business organically, often without pitches. Much of our business has come from old clients at some of the compa-nies and brands we work on.

ChannelsThere are two types of channels that Sandbox uses. The first is to connect with each other and their clients. This is done through email, phone calls, live meetings, and WebEx meet-ings. We also have channels to the end consumer. These means are our final deliverables. We are able to create print, web, interactive PDFs, videos, mobile apps, virtual reality, conference booths, and sales representative materials that reps use to talk to doctors.

Customer SegmentsSandbox as a whole has a multitude of target segments. To start, the Chicago and L.A. offices specifically market to healthcare companies, both branded drugs and institution-al programs. In addition, we have marketed towards biotech pharmaceutical companies. We also target companies with agriculture products, spirits, food, and other consumer products through our other offices

Cost StructuresSandbox has a variety of costs including the technologies within the office. Each employ-ee will receive a laptop and desktop. In addition, each conference room has a TV and technologies to make meetings more efficient. Sandbox also has to cover employee sala-ries, benefits in and out of the office, travel expenses between offices, company market-ing, printing and office supplies, and pitch and prep work.

Revenue StreamsClients are willing and want to come to Sandbox because of the relationship we have with them. They are willing to pay for our services and love seeing the final products we create. In addition, clients find value in our strategy implementations, willing to pay for the talent our employees have in order to come up with an innovative strategy for their brands.-

Part 3: Projects1. LOE Research

Assignment: An anesthesia that Sandbox is currently working on will go off patent within the next year. Drugs have a period of exclusivity when their companies apply for a patent. Often these patents can last about 10 to 20 years, depending on the drug, before other companies can come in to make generics. During this time, drugs will use branded advertisements and have higher prices. The FDA offers this period of exclusivity because the research and development funds that go into creating drugs consists of millions to billions of dollars. With the upcoming patent expiration for the brand, I was assigned the task to look up innovative tactics and case studies of what other drug companies have done in the past when they went off patent, losing their exclusivity. Chris Weber, one of our Senior Vice Presidents of Accounts assigned me this project.

Completion: To complete this project, I originally started off just trying to look for company strategies when their drugs have gone off patent. However, I found this difficult to find, because companies are not going to put something on the internet for other companies to steal if it is working well for them. I sat down with my mentor, Becky to discuss what brands and directions I could go in. We made a list of brands I could look into for case studies and examples on their websites. As I was looking into these brands, I came up with the idea to look at the Miami Libraries database too. I was unsuccessful in this. However, I was able to find information able the brand list Becky and I came up with. To present this informa-tion I put the information I found into a neatly organized deck. Information I found was

divided into case studies and post loss of exclusivity (LOE) language.

Case 1: Nortavis (Gleevec)• Gleevec uses language to educate their consumer patients on how to receive branded Gleevec. A

3-step process is described: Request, Check, Confirm. This process ensures customers will: re-quest branded Gleevec from their doctors, check to ensure the doctor wrote dispense as written, and confirm at the pharmacy.

• Gleevec uses their HCP website to explain to physicians how that can ensure their patients are receiving the branded versions through Dispense as Written (DAW). In addition, Gleevec includes an interactive chart where physicians can find DAW regulations for their state.

• Gleevec compares itself to the generic in a chart listed on their website. Points of cost difference between branded and unbranded Gleevec are indicated in a table. Gleevec uses a co-pay card to make the drug more affordable for its patients.

Case 2: Pfizer (Viagra)• Viagra is now available direct to consumer through their website through a partnership with CVS.

They advertise that buying directly through their website is a way to ensure they are receiving the brand name version directly to their door at the lowest price with cost saving options.

• The website hosts videos that describe the manufacturing and prominence of counterfeit Viagra, making it an urgency to buy the branded versions.

Case 3: Abbott (Ultanea)• Abbott obtained FDA approval for a “one step” version of sevorflurance. Baxter attempted to cre-

ate a “three-step” process for producing generic sevoflurance two years before period of exclusivi-ty was up.

• Abbot developed three maximization strategies: Contracting, Medical Education. and Equipment Strategy. Together, these three were able to secure business.

Case 4: INOmax• In preparation for LOE, INOmax Total Care 24/7 was created to be only proven system of iNO

products and services. Existing services were repackaged to demonstrate breadth that no generic manufacturer could match.

• Neo Network 24/7, a microsite, was created for neonatologists to share interests.

Backup: Preparing for LOE Language (Common wording that gave hints of patent loss)• Mentions of years of research and trials• Number of patients treated worldwide• Adding more value to a patient’s prescription (savings, combined services, convenience)• Cost Comparisons between branded and generic (implementation of savings cards• Directions for DAW

Outcome: The senior staff approved of the deck I created, and will use it in an upcoming strate-gy-planning workshop with our clients. By completing the research, other employees were able to dedicate their time to current projects that the client team is working on. Skills Acquired: I was able to utilize organization and research skills that I have developed throughout my college career. I was able to leverage resources not available to Sandbox through the Mi-ami website. In addition, I leverage presentation skills I have acquired through my various classes in order to put together a clean deck to be presented to high level employees. In addition, I was able to use communication skills to keep our Senior Vice President updat-ed and knowledgeable about the research I found.

Challenges: One major challenge I had to overcome was the lack of information about Loss of Exclu-sivity strategy. To combat this, Becky and I were able to sit down and talk about other ways to research this. She suggested brands that she had worked on in the past I could look into and made a list of drugs that had recently gone of patent that could be of good use for us.

2. Global Branding Research

Assignment: For this project, I received an email request from Danielle Friedman, a Senior Account Supervisor from our Santa Monica office. The request was to pull examples from pharma-ceutical brands on how they treat branded, unbranded, patient vs. healthcare profession-al sites in the US and ex-US. Branded sites include those that are still on patent that will be advertised with the brand name. Unbranded sites are often those that are sponsored by the parent company that advertise for a disease state, its causes, and tell of treatment options, but does not mention a specific brand. I was to start research in drugs for rare disease states, but was not limited to that area.

Completion: To start, I was given a list of two drugs, both their patient sites and healthcare profession-al sites. I started with these, taking screenshots of the websites, copying the link, and placing these in an organized format. To continue, I attempted to Google search branded global drugs in rare disease states, but was running into a bit of a challenge, as many drug companies do not have global branded sites for patients. In my first crack at this, I went to different drug company websites and looking for the drugs they sell both in the U.S. and internationally. Still having a hard time, I consulted Becky for help. Together, we were able to come up with a list of drugs to look into. I was able to finish up the deck ahead of schedule and pass it off to the Santa Monica office.

Outcome: This project was used to prepare for a Request For Proposal to become the digital agen-cyof record for both US and Global teams for one of our current clients. Although we were not awarded the business the global work we presented help the internal team educate themselves on what is possible from a promotional perspective ex-US.

Skills: I again used research skills I learned through school to be able to look up drug websites in rare disease states, both inside the US and outside. In addition, I was in a time crunchfor this project. I was assigned Chris’ LOE Research shortly before. The Global Research was to be done by the end of the day so that the team could discuss in the morning. Since this project was more time sensitive, I put it first and worked on Chris’ LOE Research the next day. I also enlisted the help of other interns to help take screenshots of the websites I found and insert them in the slideshow for me to organize.

Challenges: The biggest challenge with this project was finding branded rare disease drug websites outside the U.S. While I attempted to solve this myself, I found this difficult. Just starting at the beginning of the summer, I wasn’t familiar with many drugs in the industry. I was able to sit down and discuss my concerns with Becky who led me in the right direction. In addition, when I had enlisted the help of other interns, I felt as though it put be behind-schedule because the information that was submitted was out of format with what I had in the rest of the deck. While this easily could’ve been a communication error on my part, I learned to be clear with directions and communicate to create better efficiency.

3. AANA Emails Project Brief/ Kickoff

Assignment: As part of an upcoming conference, AANA (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists), our client will be using promotional emails to drive traffic to the booth before, during, and after the show. Sandbox was to create and distribute those emails. Our targets, Anes-thesia Nurses (AN) and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), are outcome seekers; looking to learn more about their field they attend conferences. Our client pres-ence at such conferences is key to exposing new uses for the anesthesia and encouraging follow ups between ANs, CRNAs, and Sales Reps. To drive traffic and awareness of the an-esthesia at these shows, Sandbox will craft a set of email templates designed to promote the brand at national shows. The toolkit will consist of 3 pre-show promotional emails and 2 post-show follow-up emails. These will be sent as a drip campaign, with the follow-up emails customized to the attendees’ interaction at the convention. The goal of the pro-gram is to build customer confidence in our brand’s reps and provide them content that will help further influence, and ultimately drive them to, trial of our anesthesia. For this, I was assigned to write the brief to inform the rest of the team about the project. By writing this brief, I was then responsible to lead the Kick Off Meeting in which I verbally describe the project to the rest of the team and then answer any questions they may have.

Completion: To complete this assignment, I used a similar brief from a previous conference for refer-ence. I was able to identify the following to include in the brief:• Market Issue: The problem that target is having that this initiative is going to address• Project Strategy: How do we plan to address the issue in order to benefit our client brand?• Target: Identify Primary and Secondary. These are the person and situation for which the brand or

product is the preferred choice.• Insight: What truth applies to the target audience that helps use understand their actions and

behaviors?• Objective: What do we want the audience to think, feel, or do?• Singular Message: What is the single most compelling message we want to communicate?• Supporting Messages: What are the supporting messages in order of importance?• Desired Action: What is the primary call to action? Secondary?• Measurement: What are the key performance indicators that will be used to measure the success

of this initiative?• Environment: Where and when can we connect with the target?• Mandatories and Considerations: What elements must be included in this initiative?

• Specifications• Final Deliverables: What are the final deliverables that we will give the client?

Most of this information I was able to receive from the previous brief and was just updat-ing information that I received from Kat. Specifically, I was able to make the market issue more concise, make the project strategy relevant to this project, and add in information about the speaker presentations taking place at our booth, something we had not had at previous conferences. She was in contact with the client and was able to determine when we would send the emails with specific messages. She sent this information over to me in an email. To cross check, I printed off this email and made sure I put all information into the brief. Once I updated the brief with the information I thought appropriate, I set up a meeting with Kat to discuss the brief. I had highlighted the things I had questions on to make the meeting as efficient as possible. Once this was approved, I contacted the project manager to schedule a Kick Off Meeting in which the account management team shares with the rest of the team information about the project. The Kick Off Meeting was the following week. I had not known I was kicking off the project until minutes before so I was able prepare through quickly reviewing the brief and presenting the brief to the rest of the team.

Outcome: I was able to successfully communicate with team members to kick off the project. Since the initial brief and kick off, we have had internal reviews and will move on to client re-views and our legal review for final distribution in September.

Skills: I was able to develop my problem solving and communication skills through this project. As I did not have all the resources I could utilize I had to use the correct resources to find and ask questions to move this project along quickly. I was able to turn over thus project quickly so that the rest of the team could work efficiently to product the emails in time for the conference. In addition, I developed communication skills through this project. First, I had to communicate with Kat to make sure that I understood the project correctly. I had a check in with her when I was wrapping up the brief to make sure I was articulating the right information. Next, I used communication skills during the kick-off meeting. I had to be quick thinking to present the brief to the team, not knowing I would be leading the meeting. I then had to clearly articulate answers to questions that came along during the meeting.

Challenges:I believe the biggest challenge in this project was not knowing exactly what to expect during the whole project. I was handed the brief and information and just trusted to take off, not entirely sure what to expect. I was a little overwhelmed, yet excited. Working through the project, I was able to see how easy it was and felt more confident in my work and the ability to effectively communicate it.

4. Intern Project

Assignment: As our summer intern project we were to create a social media campaign for one of Sand-box’s pro bona accounts, a celiac disease research center in downtown Chicago. While this account has a good social media following, it is often moms of kids who have the disease or those with the disease. There is very little knowledge of the disease, thus very limited donations to the center. Our goal was to create social media posts and a cam-paign that would translate to donations and a millennial influence on the followings.

Completion:The intern group would meet about once a week to come up with ideas. At first, we tried to go move the campaign events route, however when we had our check in with the full time staff, we were pointed in another direction. We were told to come up with a social media campaign. At first, we met and were just throwing posts and ideas out. We had a challenge because the center wanted to appeal to millennials but wanted to remain a se-rious, educational tone at the same time. It felt as though we just had mismatched posts between Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. To solve this, I suggested that we do an over-arching theme for all the social media accounts and to have a specific theme for each of the social media platforms. We decided that the overarching campaign was going to be MyCeliacStory. We would have people with Celiac to submit their stories for the Center to post on all social media platforms. We then broke it down by platform. We chose to make Facebook more educational, posting educational updates, news, and information from the Center employees. Twitter would be a happy medium between Facebook and Insta-gram. Instagram would be more lifestyle focused, with recipes, fun pictures, and updates that are relatable to those with celiac in the Chicago area. We also came up with the idea of have #fastfactfriday across all platforms to educate the community with updates.

For this, Rachael, one of the interns and I, made Instagram templates so the staff could plug in the fast facts after we leave. The team and I also left a list of fast facts and poten-tial posts for the social media platforms.

Outcome: The interns and I are finishing up the final project now to present to the client and our head management next week. In this presentation, we decided to give the Center a mix of more humorous posts as well as the educational mix that they are looking for. We put together a branded Sandbox presentation in an organized format. We will be meeting with the full time employees next week to finalize our presentation and do a practice presenta-tion before we present to the clients on Wednesday.

Skills: I think the most important skills I developed through this project was communication, pa-tience, and teamwork. There was a miscommunication between the Center, the full time staff, and the interns (see Challenges below) that tested my patience with this project. I felt every time we were making progress, we regressed due to miscommunication. In addi-tion, because we had this miscommunication, there were differences in opinion between the team members. I felt as though there were a lot of strong personalities fighting for their thoughts every meeting and we were not making any progress. This was especially difficult for me, as I was often very busy and felt these team check-ins were a waste of my time and just left me stressed and frustrated. Throughout the summer, I learned to step back in the meetings and try to become more of a mediator. In result, I learned to use phrases such as “What if,” “maybe we could do something such as…” and “that’s a great idea, but could we add to it and do this instead.” These phrases were more accepted by the team and felt that we were getting much further than we previously had, creating more clear, organized documents with content that the center was looking for.

Challenges:I found this project rather difficult. While I usually like working in teams, I felt at though there was a mix of strong personalities that made it very difficult to make decisions at times. I think a lot of this issue came from the fact that it seemed as though we received a new set of directions every time we met with the full time staff. At first, we were supposed to develop a campaign that was overarching. In result, we came up with a list of several event ideas that we thought could increase the center donations. When we had our check in, the full time staff advised us to go against the events and focus on social media. Then we focused on social media to connect to millenials, and were told the humorous content we found would not be taken well by the Center clients, who were two older women who wanted to focus on the educational aspect. At the next meeting, we were told we needed to have an event or two to talk about to the client. In addition, we were to develop a cam-paign for Giving Tuesday, which is the Tuesday after Black Friday, in which many people give donations to various charities. It was overwhelming with the conflicting messages, which led to conflict and confusion within the group.

Part 4: Articulate Your ImpactI was approached by one of our Senior Vice President’s to complete a research project for one our of brand’s that is soon to go off patent. I was to look up case studies and relevant examples that would educate the team and spark creativity for an upcoming brainstorm-ing workshop. Not knowing much about the drug industry at the time, I first looked up the length of exclusivity for drugs, to learn about the topic so that I could better tailor my research. I then looked at drug brands that I recently lost their exclusivity, made a list, and was able to research each of those drugs looking for case studies and exploring dif-ferent tactics and wording on their websites. Once I had a good grasp on the research, I sat down with the Senior VP to discuss where I was at and how to tailor my further re-search. He was impressed with what I had found thus far and asked me to continue look-ing for a few more case studies. I was able to finish up the research, present it to him in a deck, and sit down to explain my findings. In result, he was educated for the upcoming workshop, the deck I made will be used in the workshop with the clients, and I was able to write a summary to send to the client before the workshop.

Part 5: Altman Scholar ReflectionDesire to Learn• I found myself faced with learning the background of two brands and the agency struc-

ture this summer. When I first started, I was to be working on a blood cancer drug with extensive background. My mentor had sent over some of the Google onboarding docs, but I felt the desire to learn more. I scoured the brand’s website, and did research on each of the indications, making a word doc so that I would have reference throughout the summer. When I was switched on brands, I did the same thing, creating a Google doc with information I could reference and apply in meetings.

• I found myself looking for additional feedback throughout the summer, whether it be good or bad. I wanted to learn how to improve myself and prepare for my future. During my weekly check in’s with Becky I would always ask if there was anything I could do better, anything I could do to learn more, and prepare for the next week. She never once had negative feedback, which was a relief to me.

Ability to Thrive Amidst Ambiguity• I had to approach writing my first brief with much ambiguity. I was just told to create

a new brief based on a previous brief that was similar. I had to dig through an email chain to find the relevant information that would be included in the brief. I used my best judgment in updating the brief, highlighted information that I was unsure about, and scheduled a quick meeting with the Account Supervisor in which I asked her to confirm the information, and was then able to send it off to the team.

• I found myself in ambiguity with many of my research projects. Often I was given no context as what or how to look up the information and how they would like it present-ed, it was up to me to find the research and present it in an organized manner. I had to use resources to educate myself on the topic and then perform the research.

Passion• I developed passion through the people of Sandbox. I found myself willing to go the

extra mile, even if the project I was working on was not of interest to me. To be candid, some of the research projects I was given, such as trying to find branded drug compa-ny Twitter’s, felt exhaustive and very limited in scope. While I wanted to give up, I knew the rest of the team did not have bandwidth to complete the project and were counting on me to push through it. It was the passion I had for the members on my team that made all the difference.

• I found myself over organizing and presenting my research in a clean, organized for-mat. I was particular throughout the summer that the decks I made were as clear and organized as possible, not knowing if they would be presented to a client or used in internal meetings. I wanted to be sure that Sandbox’s name was on a presentable doc-ument, even if it took me a little longer to “perfect.”

Scrappiness and Grit• I learned to clearly articulate myself in emails after I made a mistake. With a new

brand we were working on, we were reaching out to sales representatives to interview them next week. I was told to follow up with the emails that Alex, one of the Account Executives sent before he went on vacation last week. I had just copied his email and changed it a bit to update for the follow up, assuming that the sales representative were informed about us reaching out to them. I received an email from one of the representatives, confused who we were. I explained that we were Sandbox, conducting interviews for a new sales playbook. From this, I took the initiative to reach out to the other reps to update them about Sandbox and the goal for the project. We had thought our client had contacted the sales reps in advance, admitting the mistake.

• I found myself using this trait during my RISE newsletter topic research. For this proj-ect, I was to look up surgery indications and the rise of geriatric surgeries. Having a hard time from a simple Google search, I then looked at the Miami Library database and Google Scholar trying to find more relevant examples.

Excellence at Collaboration• I realized through interactions with the other interns the importance of collaboration.

The group of us collaborates outside of work, we learned to laugh together, and share stories and experiences. This helped us in the intern project. While there were times we fought about ideas, because we knew each other on a deeper level, we were able to capitalize on each other’s strengths to complete a stronger outcome.

• I found myself using collaboration during the SKIPTA kick off. This project was tough to understand, for both myself and the rest of the team. To overcome this, I reached out to the team and asked them to compile all the questions they had. I then emailed the guy in charge of the project with the list of our questions. With the information, I then sent an email with all the information to the rest of the team and went to discuss the timing with the project manager.

Willing to Put the Company Before Oneself • I learned the importance to put the company first through the AANA email project brief

and kick off. In this instance, I had collaborate with the team, explain to them the proj-ect, answer questions, and check up on them to make sure the project was moving. If I had sat on the project, not taking the initiative, the project would have never gotten started in time for the release in September.

• I put the company first when doing new brand research. While it was not the most ex-citing research I have ever done, I knew the team was relying on me for the research so that we could create a valuable sales tool for the brand. If I had a ‘me’ attitude, I would have never finished the project in time to explain the research to the team before I left.

Part 6: Thank You LettersHost Company:

Dear Sandbox Team,I would like to take a moment to thank you for providing a wonderful internship experi-ence this summer. Know that it has been an extremely valuable experience to me. Before this summer, I knew very little about agency structure or the healthcare industry. I knew I wanted to be in a creative, fast-moving culture and found just that. I went into each work-day, not knowing what projects would be thrown at me. It was an adventure, with each new task being a new learning experience and an opportunity to grow, and for that I am truly grateful. I felt as thought I was a valued member of the team, conducting research, writing briefs, making suggestions, presenting to a client, and even leading meetings. I felt as though I was a trusted member of your team, given projects with ambiguity and expected to carry through. Being held to high standards of work demanded a passion and desire to grow and learn throughout the summer through the various projects I was assigned. I was able to apply the concepts I have learned in my classes in a real life experience, something I don’t always get in my classes. As I move forward in my profession career, I will take all that I have learned this summer with me. If there is anything I could have do for the team, please let me know. I will miss the culture and people of Sandbox dearly, and would be more than thrilled to find myself back, playing in the Sandbox in the years to come. With sincere thanks,Kayla Roesch

John Altman:

Dear Mr. Altman,I would like to thank you for making the Altman Scholar Internship Program available to me this summer. This summer, I was able to intern in Account Management at The Sand-box Agency, a healthcare advertising agency in downtown Chicago. Throughout the sum-mer, I was exposed to the structure of advertising agencies, the Chicago startup environ-ment, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, and four pharmaceutical brands that the company is working on. Before this summer, I knew very little about agency structure or the healthcare industry. I knew I wanted to be in a creative, fast-moving culture and found just that. Through var-ious onboarding programs, I was able to learn the roles of everyone within the organiza-tion. I was relied on to learn about the industry and brands that I would be working on. I went into each workday, not knowing what projects would be thrown at me. It was an ad-venture, with each new task being a new learning experience and an opportunity to grow.Being treated as a member of the team, I was able to complete research compiled into deck format to be used both internally and in client meetings. I was trusted to write proj-ect briefs, lead meetings, make suggestions for projects, and connect with clients. I was given projects with ambiguity and expected to carry them through. I took risks, I made suggestions, I succeeded, and I failed. I think the biggest lessons come from the failures I made. In the startup world, you have to be able to bounce back quickly, moving forward for the rest of the team. If I sat there upset about sending a wrong email to a client or set-ting up the wrong meeting time, I would have put my team behind. Instead, you overcome you mistakes, apologize, and move forward. Even when I made such a mistake, I knew my team was right there to support me, both in good times and bad. The focus on “creating better, together” was evident in the Sandbox culture, which allowed me to collaborate with employees at all levels throughout a variety of departments. I never felt as if I was the “lesser” employee, but instead a valuable new outlook and asset to the team.Thank you again for making this experience possible. I was able to develop skills and ap-ply them to the real world, something you cannot always do in the classroom and for that I am truly thankful.

Sincerely,Kayla Roesch