Though my summer internship was not how I expected it to go due to COVID-19, I was shocked by how much I was able to experience and learn in a purely online environment.

My name is Naomi Sachs, and I am a senior Strategic and Corporate Communication major with a double minor in Entrepreneurship and English (concentrating in Creative Writing). This summer I was a marketing intern for UBTECH Robotics, a global AI and humanoid robotics company. 

I was never a big STEM kid growing up. I had always struggled in math and science, so I tended to lean towards subjects such as English and Art. Although in the first couple weeks of my internship, I realized STEM and robotics are a lot more interesting and less intimidating than I anticipated. 

I worked on several different projects, such as writing blog posts for the company’s Camp:ASPIRE summer program, copywriting for their social media, and researching information about Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) for infographics. 

Camp:ASPIRE is a virtual summer camp for kids where they are able to build their skills in coding and engineering with real robotics UKITs. 

Even though I was not originally familiar with robotics terminology, I learned a lot about UBTECH’s products. I familiarized myself with the company’s UKITs and JIMU robots to get a better understanding of what products they were selling.  

Though this was not my first internship, I was UBTECH’s first intern, and I was thoroughly surprised and impressed by how supportive they were. My internship advisor always made sure I had something to do. I was given tasks that made me feel as if I was actually benefiting the company. I was not just assigned boring grunt work. 

One of my favorite things during my internship was managing the social media accounts through Traject Social, Facebook for Business and Tweetdeck. I will be able to take the skills I learned from these programs and apply them in the future. 

Working at UBTECH Robotics this summer gave me something to focus on during these difficult times. It was one of the most rewarding and engaging internships I have ever experienced, and I am glad I was able to have this opportunity, even though it was online. 

Despite thinking STEM and robotics was not for me, working at UBTECH has reminded me that it is never too late to learn something new. I am glad I was able to dip my feet into an industry that intimidated me while also being able to develop my marketing skills for future careers.