Throughout the summer, Skandalaris Center Summer Internship Program participants will be writing guest blog posts about their internship experience. Following is one such post. 

My Daily Expedition 

By Harry Wei (EN’21)

My name is Harry Wei, I am currently a rising junior majoring in Computer Science and Finance at WashU. After much deliberation on whether to do an internship in Computer Science or Finance, I finally made up my mind. Eager to apply the knowledge I learned in CSE 330S and CSE 438S at WashU, I applied to be a full-stack web developer or mobile developer during the second half of my sophomore year. As an international student, a lot of resumes and applications forms, which I sent out during the semester, always reach a dead end. That experience just made me realize how hard it is to get an internship given my identity in the US. I was browsing through my email inbox one day and saw this email from the Skandalaris Center. That was when I first learned about this potential internship opportunity. Lucky enough, I was offered an opportunity to intern at Ellem Laboratories.

Ellem Laboratories was founded by Mr. Kevin Marschke. Interestingly and respectably enough, Mr. Marschke dropped out of UMSL when he was a rising junior as he felt school could not really teach him what he needed to succeed in the real world. As he shared with me a week ago, he believed he would become more professionally prepared by venturing into the real world earlier than most people, rather than following the traditional path. I agreed and respected him very much as he is super competent at both his coding and tech-consulting jobs, and as a boss. Three years have passed, and Ellem Laboratories thrives today! He surely made the right decision. As a leader, Mr. Marschke is humorous and charismatic, the reason I followed him after turning down 4 offers from other start-ups.

First day, first hour, first minute into the internship, I was given the task of making a map search service using JavaScript, HTML and CSS, the technologies I am familiar with. Energetically engaged, it took me about one week to finish my first little project. Mr. Marschke was impressed and so was the company that tasked Ellem to do the project. Going further into the next 3 weeks of the internship, I have been presented with increasingly challenging projects that use JavaScript Libraries such as ArcGis and OpenLayer Library. These libraries are not the easiest I have been in contact with, it took me days to understand them. Nowadays, I am trying to apply what I’ve learnt so far to create greater values for Ellem Laboratories, albeit increasingly challenging as the days go by. Mr. Marschke was kind and understanding enough to always come to my aid when I experience technical difficulties. His clear logic and easy-to-understand explanation have been my greatest allies. I enjoy every conversation with my insightful boss, and of course, Oden, the mascot dog in the office. Feeding Oden on the condition of making a handshake is probably the best experience I’ve had so far.

Why you should apply for this internship? Let me give you the pragmatic answers. First, good pay. Second, higher chance of acceptance. Third, the entrepreneurial spirit in St. Louis. Why are you still procrastinating?