Summer Analyst Program Reflections, Part III: Laura Hoesly

Laura Hoesly, a senior at Pennsylvania State University, participated in this year’s Summer Analyst program. She shared some of her thoughts and experiences.

“I initially thought that daily life at Summit would involve a lot of meetings and emails,” Laura recalls. “We have a lot of those, but we also meet with clients on-site and have collaborative working sessions to brainstorm approaches to new problems.” Laura assisted on many engagements, notably those for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO).

Along with Analyst Natalie Hinton, Laura was able to have a fair amount of responsibility in the development of their ILAB engagement. “We were able to choose the data we would analyze, and we asked questions that we felt were relevant to the engagement. I liked that we were able to take some control there.” Laura felt that her professional communication skills grew as a result of her work with Summit. “Interacting with clients was intimidating, but after I worked with more experienced members of my team, such as Michael Smith and Shane Thompson, and observed their behavior, I was more comfortable.”

During her time at Summit, Laura lived in the College Park area of Maryland, but explored downtown Washington, DC when she had time. “It was nice to have other Summer Analysts around; we were able to hang out and get to know each other, which made the time more enjoyable.” Laura participated in kickball, and noted that she saw all the monuments and museums with her family when they visited.

Safe travels back to State College, Laura!