Starting your first internship is exciting and challenging. For our summer intern Rachel Hickey, the challenges were more than just getting setup on email and Slack. Hickey, a recent graduate of the University of Waterloo, is spending two months with us this summer working on our marketing team.
During her previous co-op placements, Hickey developed a passion for communication. “I’ve worked at UW’s Velocity program and the WSIB Innovation Lab inside the Communitech Hub,” said Hickey. “It was my second-year placement with UW’s media relations team that really got me hooked. I learned how to do research and tell stories quickly.”
Originally from Woodstock, Ontario, Hickey moved to the area to attend the University of Waterloo. “I looked at the University of Guelph and Ryerson in Toronto, but Waterloo had the best of both worlds - Kitchener-Waterloo was the right choice.”
Hickey’s time with Velocity and WSIB introduced her to the tech community here in Waterloo. “It’s exciting! People are doing really cool things here. It’s a community that made me want to stick around.”
It was that same community that connected us with Hickey. Her former manager at Velocity, Briton Burgio, shared our posting with Hickey. “It’s so great when someone says ‘hey, let me connect you with this person’,” added Hickey. “Everyone wants to help.”
Outside of tech, Hickey is heavily involved with the local music scene. At UW, Hickey was president and musical director of their The Unaccompanied Minors A Cappella group. Fun fact - UW has six a cappella groups and has qualified for the world championships. Even students from down University Avenue at Wilfrid Laurier University have come to UW to join their teams.
So what’s next for our intern? Hickey plans on tackling more challenges with internships and some freelance work. “I want to find new ways to be involved in the community - I’m looking forward to meeting more people and learning about the companies based here.”
