Students That Can: Catching up with former STC intern, Opeyemi

In 2023, Opeyemi, a student from Newark, was part of Schools That Can's inaugural virtual internship cohort, where students engaged in communications work. During her time as an STC intern, Opeyemi wrote pieces taking us inside a day in the life of a high school student, top career readiness tips that had been helpful to her, and more.

Now a student at Syracuse University, Opeyemi is making the most of her college experience. Since her time at Schools That Can, she's pursued volunteer work helping younger students learn about financial literacy and is on multiple executive boards for organizations on campus, in addition to working while in school. Schools That Can caught up with Opeyemi about advice she would give her younger self, and what she's looking forward to in the future.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Tell us about what you've been doing since your STC internship! What are some of your favorite parts about your college experience so far? Since my STC internship, I've been doing a lot of volunteer work with teaching high schoolers and middle schoolers about financial literacy, I've also joined e-boards like J.U.M.P. to talk to local students about real-world problems, and Save a Child's Heart to help fundraise money for kids around the world who need heart surgery.

Some of my favorite parts about my college experience so far is hanging out with my friends though game nights, birthdays, etc. I feel like the people here definitely make up your experience, so it's been great to be around people who bring me so much joy.

I just got an internship with SIPS Directory as a Brands and Venues Intern. I’m creating social media toolkits for brands and venues to use when they sign up with SIPS. This also includes working with brands and venues that sign up to create posts and reels. I hope to learn how to apply all the things I’ve learned in marketing so far into my internship, like finding my targeted audience and how to strengthen the business.

When you interned with STC, you wrote a blog post about the best career readiness tips for young people. What's the one career readiness tip that's been most useful to you as a young adult? 

A career readiness tip that's been most useful to me as a young adult is my work-life balance: figuring how to have a life outside of college while still staying on top of my academics.

What are you most looking forward to about your future right now?

Honestly, I'm looking forward to figuring out who I become. It's the excitement of knowing that I may have a plan for myself but end up going towards a different path. I've been getting really into politics since I've been here, and as a result I've been looking for dual master degrees in MBA and Policy studies, despite the fact that I want to go into digital marketing. It's like, who knows, maybe I might go into something that goes into both!

What is one thing you'd go back and tell your younger self? 

One thing I'd go back and tell my younger self is it's okay to not have it all figured out. Rushing into my major was something I wish I didn't do, and instead take my time to really explore the different degrees here and see what I'm really into. But I'm definitely happy that it all worked out for the better!