Huntsman Student Tackles Five Internships

Five. That’s how many internships Utah State University student Steve Gould completed in the last two and a half years.

It all started at a USU recruitment night when Gould was in high school. He said that compared to the other schools he was interested in, he just “had a good feeling” about USU. He started as a bio-chemistry major then changed to landscape architecture and then business administration. It was after taking a finance class that he discovered what really interested him. 

“I never pass up an opportunity to grow,” Gould said. “Each internship had very new and different things to offer, and I was excited at the prospect of gaining new skills.”

His first internship was in Houston, Texas, working for Plains All American Pipeline. There he worked with an investor relations group at the company’s headquarters. He studied and learned the finances of the business and then presented the information to investors and the board. From this first internship, Gould said he learned “the power of asking questions.” He said that by not being afraid to ask questions, he learned important details about the financial industry.

Internship number two was at a local tire company, Discount Tire. He was put in charge of redesigning the company’s website and finding ways to cut costs and better invest the firm’s marketing efforts. While he was there, he noticed the firm was using Google for one of its advertising mediums. Gould took it upon himself to re-vamp the advertising approach with Google. His program saved Discount Tire almost $100,000 per year.

“Steven excels in everything he does, and works toward the highest degree of quality and delivery possible,” said Ron Welker, associate director of career management for the Huntsman School of Business.

In the summer of 2012 Gould traveled to Spokane, Wash., to work for Cancer Care Northwest. He said one of the highlights of the experience was the opportunity to work side by side with the CFO, Bill Fisher. Cancer Care Northwest was in an expansion stage when Gould arrived. The business was constructing new buildings, hiring new employees, creating compensation plans, purchasing new machines and designing various finance-based projects. As the summer went on, Fisher became a mentor to Gould.

“He taught me life lessons, and I really appreciated every minute I had with him,” Gould said.

When school started in August, Steve came back to Cache Valley to a marketing internship with Prezi, a creative presentation software program. He now works with USU’s Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, the Huntsman School, the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department and professors in an effort to get Prezi more recognized on campus. There are 55 Prezi interns around the world at various businesses and schools, and Gould is the direct liaison and the only intern for USU.

“If someone can utilize all of the tools on Prezi, it can be stunning,” he said.

Gould’s latest internship started less than a month ago for a high-end theater and home automation company based in St. George, Utah. The CEO personally asked for Gould’s help on the finance side of things by having him take the lead on all number projections for the company.

“This is my most daunting internship because I’m in charge,” Gould said. “It’s my project and nobody else’s.”

Gould will graduate in May 2013 and start his job at Goldman Sachs at the end of June.

“The quality of education we get at the Huntsman School is absolutely incredible,” Gould said. “It all goes back to why I came to USU in the first place. Everything is student focused, and it just feels good here.”

Related links:

USU Department of Economics and Finance

USU’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business

Contact: Steve Eaton, 435.797.8640, steve.eaton@usu.edu

Writer: Klydi Heywood, klydiheywood@gmail.com