Last month, I accompanied Summit Principal Dr. Albert Lee as we spoke to students at University of California, Los Angles (UCLA). Dr. Lee spoke to Dr. Robert Gould's "Career in Statistics" seminar about ways to make your statistics degree useful for your first job. Dr. Gould, who hosts the annual seminar, is the vice chair of UCLA's undergraduate statistics program.

Happy anniversary to Summit! Last week we celebrated Summit's accomplishments over the past thirteen years. We talked about our projects, remembered our successes, and recognized the outstanding people who make it all possible: our clients, employees, and teaming partners.

On June 7, 2016, Summit won The Sister Eymard Gallagher Award for Service to Others from the HR Leadership Association (HRLA) of Greater Washington. This award honors Summit's team for "leadership, dedication and engagement of employees to give back to the community through service to others."

Summit Consulting and the University of Maryland (UMD) recently hosted the second-ever American Statistical Association (ASA) DataFest in Washington, DC. (Read about the first annual DC DataFest here.) This year’s special “celebration of data” was co-hosted by the University of Maryland's Joint Program in Survey Methodology (JPSM) and Summit Consulting.

Summit is pleased to report that the majority of our employees are working in the #1 job in America, according to Glassdoor's new report.Glassdoor indicates that data scientists are the definitive job winners in terms of job openings, career opportunities, and reported salary, moving up from the #9 top job slot in 2015. Summit's consulting staff are trained in data science and represent a unique mix of expertise, including statistics, computer programming, economics, and math. We use these special skill sets to study and solve issues facing commercial and governmental entities. 

Summit believes that our uniquely qualified and skilled staff are our most valuable asset, and we support our data scientists in a number of ways:

Summit staff members celebrated Women’s History Month by hosting “Careers in STEM,” a mentoring session for middle- and high-school girls from rural Tennessee.

The young women are part of a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program run by The Clement Railroad Hotel Museum in Dickson, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. Summit provided a panel of its top women analysts, consultants, and senior consultants for this online mentoring session on March 10, 2016.

At Summit, employees are encouraged to devote some of their work time to philanthropic endeavors. In the past, we have participated in literacy programs and back-to-school efforts. Last week, Summiteers volunteered at DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) to prepare food for those in need.

Welcome to fall! The days are shorter, the wind is crisper, and there’s a bit of holiday excitement in the air. For Summiteers, it means time to enjoy the company of family and coworkers before calendars book up for the holiday season. Our Social Committee and Summit Together (Philanthropy Committee) teamed up to host two separate events this October: our First Annual Columbus Day Picnic and our Third Annual Halloween Potluck.

Do you remember the book bag you carried in middle school? What about elementary or high school? Do you remember how you obtained that bag? Maybe you didn’t have a book bag at all. Fortunately, Summit Consulting possesses a philanthropic culture that supports its employees giving back to the community. This fall, Summit volunteers helped an estimated 800 school children in D.C. get a great start on the first day of school.

Taking advantage of the new company policy that allows employees to utilize flexible hours for charitable engagements, over 15 colleagues from all levels of Summit used two hours of time to volunteer at the Central Union Mission’s Operation Backpack. This opportunity, organized by the Summit Together Philanthropy Committee, helped the Central Union Mission organize, pack, label, and bundle hundreds of book bags—ensuring on-time delivery of school supplies to homeless Washington, D.C. children across all grade levels. Bags were separated by age then labeled and packed with necessary supplies such as notebooks, pencils, rulers, folders, binders, and other grade-appropriate materials.

Screaming kids, airplanes made from straws and construction paper, marshmallow DNA replicas...even dice! “DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOK!” – yes, really!

On Thursday, May 21, 2015, Summit Together joined with turningtheparge.org at Martin Luther King Elementary School in Southeast D.C. to volunteer at the school’s annual literacy night. Eleven enthusiastic and energetic Summiteers spent two and a half hours reading “Do Not Open This Book” written by Michaela Muntean with the kids. Some read one-on-one with students and some read to a group.