Intern Spotlight: Lydia Brewer

Intern Spotlight: Lydia Brewer

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Antwerp native Lydia Brewer, a sophomore at Bowling Green State University, is studying middle childhood education. Curious about exploring other careers as "a potential backup plan," Lydia joined the PPEC team in May 2023 as the engineering summer intern. 

"This was a wonderful opportunity to see another career choice if the education route wouldn't go my way," Lydia says. "I was looking for a job that could strengthen many of my developing professional skills that aren't career-specific."

Getting to work with nearly every department in the company, Lydia took part in numerous projects. In engineering, she entered line construction manuals into PPEC's system and organized pole testing data. In marketing, she created internal resources and monitor slides to keep employees updated and contacted local businesses to join the Co-op Connections program. 

"Bank reconciliation has been my favorite project because I've always loved numbers and puzzles, and it's really just a giant numbers puzzle to make sure our end of financials and the bank's end all balance out," Lydia says. "A close second would be helping with Member Appreciation Day because it allowed me to be more creative and take part in something huge that hundreds of people would enjoy." 

One thing young people may not consider is how they can also help the company. Often, the co-op benefits immensely from fresh insight. "Sometimes, when someone works on something too long, they go blind to new ideas," Lydia says. "Just by bringing my new eyes to various projects, I offered a fresh perspective. In my 'Risk It' trivia game for Member Appreciation Day, I came up with new, easier questions for members to answer that the committee overthought because they are such experts in their fields."

The biggest change for Lydia? Her confidence and sharpened skills. 

"At the start of the summer, I was always afraid I'd do something wrong," she says. "Now, I'm more confident in the work and know that if I'm unsure of something, there are so many employees willing to help. My communication skills have been sharpened because I've had to work with co-workers and even speak to strangers on the phone. My software knowledge in Microsoft applications has improved, and my creative skills have come out because I was put in situations where I had to come up with solutions on the spot."

Lydia says she's grateful the co-op has allowed her to grow as a professional by giving her important projects instead of "basic grunt work anyone could do."

"That trust from PPEC shows me that hard work can create success in any future career I choose," Lydia says. "One of the biggest things this internship has taught me is how important it is to find a work environment that's super-supportive at all levels, has great communication, and doesn't let anyone's hard work go unnoticed. 

"If I get the chance, I'd love to come back and continue my internship in the future."