S.M. Wilson Teams With St. Louis Internship Program
Date Posted: June 23, 2016
Posted In: News, Organizations,
Victoria Betts, a recent graduate of the St. Louis Career Academy planning to study accounting at Georgia State University this fall, is spending the summer getting hands-on career experience in accounting at S. M. Wilson & Co. thanks to a partnership with the St. Louis Internship Program (SLIP). SLIP is preparing this resident of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood to be successful in college through a combination of employability training, year-round college and career planning and a paid summer internship at S. M. Wilson.
The goal of SLIP is to provide hope and opportunity for high school students in partnership with businesses and community organizations, and to build the St. Louis community by developing motivated, well-trained and talented future employees. Since 1992, 98% of 3,600 SLIP interns have successfully acquired employability skills, graduated high school, and pursued their career goals.
“When we became aware of SLIP, we knew we wanted to be involved,” says Amy Berg, President of S. M. Wilson & Co. “Victoria was well prepared to work here when she arrived, and she has really hit the ground running.”
Victoria has been in the SLIP since her sophomore year of high school and has attended weekend classes in topics ranging from typing to interviewing skills to proper attire for working in a professional environment. In summer of 2014, she was an intern in process management at Emerson.
“This summer I am seeing accounting in a whole new way,” Victoria says of her six week internship at S. M. Wilson. “I knew about accounting in the classroom but knew nothing about construction before coming here. Now I am seeing how accounting can be applied in the real world.”
S. M. Wilson is a full-service construction management, design/build and general contracting firm with headquarters in St. Louis. S. M. Wilson is one of the largest general construction and construction management firms in the St. Louis area. The company posted $305 million in 2015 revenues, and ranks 220th in Engineering News-Record’s 2016 list of Top 400 commercial contractors nationwide.