For 12 weeks this summer, South Carolina State University senior Kenadi Taylor was embedded in the world of finance.
Taylor, a senior business management major from Columbia, South Carolina, was the first branch intern at 1st Franklin Financial Corp. (1st Franklin). The opportunity resulted from a collaboration between the financial services company and SC State’sInstitute for Business, Environment, Communications and Transportation (BECT Institute).
“This 12-weeks internship has definitely been lifechanging,” Taylor said. “I’ve learned so much about the financial industry and financial literacy, and I appreciate all the knowledge (1st Franklin) has to offer.
“I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to apply. I was not aware of the opportunity until I stumbled into a presentation by the BECT Institute and representatives from 1st Franklin to discuss the internship and ask students to apply,” Taylor said. “Once I learned the details of the internship, I knew this was something I wanted to do but had no idea of the breadth of the experience until I started.”
This was the first internship program offered by 1st Franklin, so leaders took a holistic approach to ensure that interns like Taylor would gain invaluable insights into facets of the financial world from operations to customer service. Taylor’s first two weeks were in training.
Over the remaining 10 weeks, she was mentored by 20 subject matter experts in different disciplines of the business. Each week, she spent two days with the expert
