The Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) announced it has awarded a $1,000 college scholarship to a student who wrote a winning essay about her experiences in ASI’s annual industry-wide summer internship program.

The winner, Elizabeth (Ellie) Pickford, is a sophomore at the Virginia Military Institute. Pickford, of Gilroy, CA, interned at A Justice Design/Make It Mine (asi/260003). In her essay, the aspiring mechanical engineer described the numerous on-the-job lessons she learned over the summer and how she expects them to serve her throughout her future career.

“I learned how to be a good worker, how to make the most out of an ostensibly imperfect situation,” Pickford wrote. “These lessons will stay with me when I develop the world’s first completely synthetic transplantable organs. These lessons will be with me when I am in meetings and when I give presentations and when I work with others.”

The ASI Summer Internship Program is free to ASI members who hire one or more interns to work at their company. This year, 230 young people participated at 17 supplier and 130 distributor companies, with many working remotely owing to the pandemic. According to ASI surveys, 93% of participating managers say they’d recommend the program to others.

“ASI has helped train and mentor 1,300 interns since launching our industry intern program in 2016,” said Timothy M. Andrews, ASI president and chief executive officer. “In my 18 years at ASI, that’s probably my proudest achievement. I thank all of the promo companies for participating and hope the students gained a deeper understanding of why millions of businesses worldwide depend on promotional products to help them communicate their message and thank and inform their customers.”

A team of ASI editors read each of the essays submitted by this summer’s interns, looking for students who made the most out of their experience.

ASI supplies participating interns (#PromoInternASI) with a webinar education series and industry overview, an ASI welcome kit of promotional items, an intern portal with program resources and job aids, and a certificate of completion along with the chance to compete for a scholarship.

Registration for ASI’s 2022 industry internship program opens in January, with start dates generally ranging from mid-May to mid-June.