Saya Desai '20 on Life After Poly
What have you been up to since graduation?
I graduated last June and decided to take a gap year before attending the University of Pennsylvania. The decision to take a gap year was a hard one—I never anticipated taking a year off; however, in the midst of the pandemic, I didn’t want to sacrifice my freshman year by going all online. For this year, I am interning at a marketing agency called Phenomenon. My 9-month internship is broken into three segments: branding, strategy, and project management, which will give me a good overview of the entire industry. So far, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients in the wellness, finance, and live entertainment industries. I have also had the opportunity to work on Van Jones’s foundation, The Dream Corps.
What fueled your interest for your career/educational path?
I was really looking for a job that would expose me to all fields. I have found that my internship is similar to working on The Paw Print in terms of how fast-paced the work is and how many moving parts there are. I have even taken on writing a newsletter for TD Ameritrade Institutional, one of our finance clients, and it enables me to channel pub weekend on The Paw Print. Being able to work on the election has also been super meaningful because politics has become an interest of mine not only because of the moment we are in, but also because of how much of an impact American Studies at Poly had on me. Moreover, in college, I plan to major in PPE, which is Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
What's been the most challenging post-graduation?
I was very ready to continue my educational path but unexpectedly found myself in a work environment for this year. Moreover, I do feel that it was hard to end my 13-year journey at Poly with no meaningful closure or rites of passage because of Covid-19—right now, not being tied to Poly has been hard because I haven’t officially started college.
What's been most rewarding?
Most rewarding has been when people at work find out that I just graduated high school, and they are so surprised. It has also been very rewarding to work with so many different clients and see how they react to the work that my agency produces. There are some highs and lows, but they are always appreciative of the different tactics that we take.
What does a normal day look like for you?
I wake up around 8, make an iced vanilla latte for a long online day. I have my first two meetings at 9. Those two meetings are for the two companies I always work on and are stand-ups that happen every day so that the team can recap what is happening and what is going to be the goal for the day. After that, I usually work on newsletters, research, or data analysis. Then I have lunch, and after that, there is usually a client meeting where we get to touch base and ask questions. As the day starts to wind down, I play tennis with my mom, which has been a favorite pandemic pastime, and catch up on emails and notifications if anything came up.
What's next?
Next is hopefully college—fingers crossed!! Crazy how things ended up like this, but this has already been a super transformative year. I am excited to continue my education and immerse myself in college culture.
What does being a part of the Poly alumni community mean to you?
It feels surreal to be a part of the Poly alumni community after 13 years of being a Poly student. But in the past 5 months, I have enjoyed browsing PolyConnect and participating in the South Asian reconciliation forum.
What advice can you offer to fellow Panthers?
Your path doesn’t have to be linear. At Poly, it has been ingrained in us that after high school, we have to go straight to college, but having a change of plans is totally okay! Moreover, be open to new possibilities that may arise and keep your eyes and ears open—everyone has the ability to teach you something new.
Back
I graduated last June and decided to take a gap year before attending the University of Pennsylvania. The decision to take a gap year was a hard one—I never anticipated taking a year off; however, in the midst of the pandemic, I didn’t want to sacrifice my freshman year by going all online. For this year, I am interning at a marketing agency called Phenomenon. My 9-month internship is broken into three segments: branding, strategy, and project management, which will give me a good overview of the entire industry. So far, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients in the wellness, finance, and live entertainment industries. I have also had the opportunity to work on Van Jones’s foundation, The Dream Corps.
What fueled your interest for your career/educational path?
I was really looking for a job that would expose me to all fields. I have found that my internship is similar to working on The Paw Print in terms of how fast-paced the work is and how many moving parts there are. I have even taken on writing a newsletter for TD Ameritrade Institutional, one of our finance clients, and it enables me to channel pub weekend on The Paw Print. Being able to work on the election has also been super meaningful because politics has become an interest of mine not only because of the moment we are in, but also because of how much of an impact American Studies at Poly had on me. Moreover, in college, I plan to major in PPE, which is Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
What's been the most challenging post-graduation?
I was very ready to continue my educational path but unexpectedly found myself in a work environment for this year. Moreover, I do feel that it was hard to end my 13-year journey at Poly with no meaningful closure or rites of passage because of Covid-19—right now, not being tied to Poly has been hard because I haven’t officially started college.
What's been most rewarding?
Most rewarding has been when people at work find out that I just graduated high school, and they are so surprised. It has also been very rewarding to work with so many different clients and see how they react to the work that my agency produces. There are some highs and lows, but they are always appreciative of the different tactics that we take.
What does a normal day look like for you?
I wake up around 8, make an iced vanilla latte for a long online day. I have my first two meetings at 9. Those two meetings are for the two companies I always work on and are stand-ups that happen every day so that the team can recap what is happening and what is going to be the goal for the day. After that, I usually work on newsletters, research, or data analysis. Then I have lunch, and after that, there is usually a client meeting where we get to touch base and ask questions. As the day starts to wind down, I play tennis with my mom, which has been a favorite pandemic pastime, and catch up on emails and notifications if anything came up.
What's next?
Next is hopefully college—fingers crossed!! Crazy how things ended up like this, but this has already been a super transformative year. I am excited to continue my education and immerse myself in college culture.
What does being a part of the Poly alumni community mean to you?
It feels surreal to be a part of the Poly alumni community after 13 years of being a Poly student. But in the past 5 months, I have enjoyed browsing PolyConnect and participating in the South Asian reconciliation forum.
What advice can you offer to fellow Panthers?
Your path doesn’t have to be linear. At Poly, it has been ingrained in us that after high school, we have to go straight to college, but having a change of plans is totally okay! Moreover, be open to new possibilities that may arise and keep your eyes and ears open—everyone has the ability to teach you something new.
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