TeamMawan – CA Work Experience Program

Day 8

The last day working for Vector Textiles was filled with hard work and focus. At the end of the day we had to present to Mr. Self our final presentation. We worked on fixing the things we covered yesterday is our other meeting with Mr. Self. We also prepared for our CA presentation and threw together a quick power point presentation. Over the past eight days, Team Mawan has over come many challenges and obstacles. We grew as intellectuals and as people. We learned how to work as a team and improved our group project skills. We created several power point and even began to experiment with graphic design through Amy. We all gave input on new potential log designs and tags for the clothing. At the end of the day, we gave Mr. Self our presentation and discussed final changes. We plan to make those final changes and send the power point to Mr. Self within the coming days. Interning with Vector Textiles was a great time!

Day 8: The Last Day:(

Sadly, this was the last day of our internship program. To save money on parking, I drove Will and Parker to work today. Triple carpooling was definitely a smart move in downtown Raleigh. We walked into HQ Raleigh ready to grind. I finished the hangtag designs, the black tags being the most popular among our team.

Making the tags was a useful project and experience. The criterion of being aesthetically pleasing while also containing useful information is a bit of a challenge, and if there was more time, I would edit the hangtags to the best of my ability, but since it was the last day and Mr. Self had only asked for a prototype, I decided to focus on helping the team improve the presentation. We worked hard on correcting the flow of the presentation and before we knew it, lunch break was upon us.

We headed to Transfer Co. Food Hall for lunch, where we met up with Alexandra Ellison, my fellow peer who was shadowing in the ER. We conversed on comfortable couches and headed back to HQ. We booked another conference room for our final meet up with Mr. Self and added finishing touches to our PowerPoint.

Once we finished our presentation with Mr. Self, he told us that with a few minor tweaks, he would be able to use this presentation in various circumstances, whether it be to the professors at Vector Textiles or even to a potential customer. We were all proud of all the work that we accomplished over the past 8 days. He explained to us that he was proud of our work ethic and diligence we had put into meeting his expectations and even allotting extra time to work on the topics that he presented as optional. I learned a lot about marketing over the course of the program and met lots of people, an important way to get a little leg up in the future. I am grateful for Caroline from R!OT for providing us the workspace and booking our conference rooms and being a friendly face we could turn to for any questions or requests. Mr. Self provided us with an amazing opportunity to make a difference in the real world and providing important research to help with a start-up company.

After the presentation, we shook hands with our boss and headed out for the day. As a last hurrah, we zoomed to the 8th floor of the parking deck and savored our last moment as The Interns. With that, we drove back to Cary.

The Work Experience Program was very helpful in giving me a taste of what a real job feels like. Although the first job I get will not be as laid back as our internship, there are lots of important tips that I learned. Good communication, good presentation skills, and good teamwork are all essential in getting the job done. During the 8 days, I have become closer with my fellow teammates, some of whom I had barely spoken with during the school year. It was an overwhelmingly positive experience and I highly recommend it to rising juniors:)

Vector Textiles Final Day

Today was sadly our last day as a family at Vector Textiles which left a somber mood over all of us. We came into work and got both of the PowerPoint’s we were working on finished early. This allowed us to go to the Transfer Co food hall in downtown Raleigh for lunch. We met a fellow work experience member there as she had a night shift at a hospital. When we came back we tidied up the final PowerPoint’s and prepared to present them by reserving a conference room to talk to Mr. Self and show him our findings. He was more than satisfied with the work we had done and we were happy to have worked for him. It was a good two weeks. 🙂

What’s this? Me!

Will and I with a background of outer Raleigh behind us.

Making a call to Mr. Self to let him know we were ready to present.

Day 7: More Presenting

Today we compiled more information into our final Microsoft Office Powerpoint Slide Presentation. We had to prepare for a quick presentation to our boss in order to make sure that everything is in order for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day that we all present our findings regarding the market for our textile. For lunch today we went to Cook Out, an economically efficient eatery. I entertained myself with a Cook out tray, which offered an entire meal for approximately 6 dollars. What a steal!!!!!!!!!!! As we arrived back at the office, Adam allowed us to eat in his Audi automobile. What a luxury!!!!!! When we got back to our desks, we again continued to work on the Microsoft Office Powerpoint Slide Presentation and did our quick practice presentation.

Day 7

As the work experience program comes to an end, Team Mawan were still hard at work. Tasked to create a formal presentation for Mr. Self, Thursday was spent hard at work putting together a presentation. Mr. Self said he would stop by at the end of the day to see our progress so we wanted to make sure our presentation was great. We also created several logo tag designs and strategized on the paths to market for Vector Textiles. For our lunch break, we went to Cookout because it is so cheap. In the afternoon, Team Mawan prepared for Mr. Self’s arrival at HQ Raleigh. We acquired a conference room on the second floor so we could present on a TV to Mr. Self. He was impressed with our work even though it still needs some work. Mr. Self brought his pet dog, Lyda, with him to HQ and we got to say hello to her, maybe for the last time.

Vector Textiles Day 7

Today was mostly a continuation of yesterday and its work. As soon as we got to work we picked back up where we had left off by creating a PowerPoint that Mr. Self would be able to use for marketing of Vector Textiles and the use cases for its different products. Soon enough, lunch came and we went back out to Cook Out where we went last Tuesday. After lunch we tidied up the PowerPoint to make sure it was in good form as Mr. Self was coming to look at it at 3 o’clock. We then got his feedback on the presentation and will get it in final form tomorrow.

Will and I showing off our PowerPoint as we were ready for Mr. Self.

A group photo of the group after a tiring day of work on the PowerPoint.

Mr. Self was a little late for us to show the PowerPoint so we tidied it up a bit more!

There were free Google stickers!

Day 7: Work Day!

Today, Team Mawan worked hard from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and 1:15 pm to 4:30 pm to finish our final presentation. Mr. Self tasked me to design hangtags and possible alternative logos for Vector Textiles, a cool way to integrate graphic design into our market research. After slaving all morning and dealing with a mildly infuriating program, I finished some logos. I then proceeded to come up with phrases and information to be presented on possible hangtags on clothing that utilizes the Vector Textiles technology.

It was considerate of Mr. Self to task me with a design project since I came into the work experience program looking for another aspect of design: marketing. In order to create an effective, eye-catching product, certain phrases need to stand out more than others. Mr. Self also wanted us to focus on how to build the brand, and with the right design on the tags, it was the perfect attention-grabbing tag. The whole team worked hard on our final presentation, which turned out to be 30 something slides, and awaited Mr. Self’s arrival at HQ Raleigh. We booked a conference room and headed out for lunch at Cookout. Along the way, we rolled down the car window to accept newspapers a guy on the corner was handing out, and it turned out to be a really sketchy read.

We arrived back at HQ and set up the conference room.

new addition ft airpods and android phone

Parker Perkins joined our team on Monday, due to an unforeseen conflict in his work experience. He helped a lot with the presentation and integrated well with our market research project.

Mr. Self arrived and we began our presentation. As the resident graphic designer, I was so busy working on the hangtags and alternative logos that I didn’t get a chance to check over the presentation and help with formatting. Mr. Self recognized the lack of coherence in our draft presentation and gave us notes and pointers to help make it stronger. He gave lots of feedback and advice that was really helpful and made sense. Tomorrow, Team Mawan & Parker are looking forward to making the right changes and present our final presentation to Mr. Self!

Day 6: End Microsoft Office Power Point Presentation

Today we started construction on our final Microsoft Office Power Point Presentation to present on Thursday. This and synthesizing our data collected were our two main goals for today. After a morning of work, the team decided to go and eat at PDQ to replenish our electrolytes. Fortunately, Parker Perkins offered to transport us from downtown to the local PDQ establishment. He drove a stick. After cruising in 1st gear the entire way, we finally arrived and enjoyed a scrumptious snack. Once we arrived back at the homebase, we were greeted with a HQ sponsored community snack. The food offered included cupcakes and honeydew. Once we were replenished, we instantly got back to work.

Vector Textiles Day 6

Today we started work on our final project, a PowerPoint that Mr. Self can use to exemplify the current state of the market and what the goals for the company will be. We were in the office the entire day and have worked on compiling all of our research and information into a visually engaging PowerPoint while still having all of the information needed on it. As there are multiple uses for Vector Textiles products, this may be an ordeal so we needed to get a start on the PowerPoint today. It is definitely good to have multiple people in our group so we can coordinate the creation of new slides! In addition to the PowerPoint, we have also done some extra research on harmful chemicals at Mr. Self’s request.

Team Mawan in all different moods after today’s stressful workday at HQ Raleigh.

Will and I discussing slides and making sure that the content of them is up to par for a presentation in the real world.

Day 6

Team Mawan met Mr. Self at HQ Raleigh this morning to discuss our plans for the next three days. We established that on Thursday we would present to Mr. Self a complete power point with a summary of all of our work over the past eight days. We all offered our input into the redesigning of the Vector Textiles logo as Amy worked to create new ideas for the logo and for the clothing “hang” tag. We worked on our power point by using a shared document online. We constructed an outline for every potential market that Vector Textiles might be interested in pursuing. Vector Textiles’ technology has great potential to address a lot of significant markets and solve a lot of problems in America and throughout the world. When we met with Mr. Self, he told us that this power point could be used by himself to present to other professionals, so we want to make sure it is up to a professional business standard. We plan to continue to work on it tomorrow and incorporate parts of it into our presentations to our fellow students and faculty in the Cary Academy Community.