Summer 2021 Student Spotlights

Kiera Williams (MCA ’22) is interning at Code and Theory, Juliette Kheyfets (Finance ’22) is interning at Dow Jones, and Montgomery Drumm (Finance ’22) was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst Society New York Heloise Ham Scholarship.

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For college students around the country, internships and other forms of hands-on learning are essential to breaking into their fields. Most King’s students complete internships while still undergraduates: of the Class of 2020 (the most recent data gathered), 88% completed internships before graduating, compared to a 61% national average (National Association of Colleges and Employers).

Below, read how a few King’s students are preparing for meaningful work in their future careers.

Kiera Williams, Code and Theory

Kiera Williams (MCA ’22) is interning this summer at Code and Theory, a New York-based digital creative agency that specializes in branding strategies and global campaigns for brands. Kiera is working as a brand strategy intern, operating under the umbrella of creative strategy. She has helped to create brand architecture and new brand strategies for large companies such as Adidas, Listerine, and ConEd. She has had the opportunity to conduct brand audits, trend reports, and to develop new strategies for brand placement.

Kiera received her Code and Theory internship through ArtBound Initiative, a program in the creative industries that mentors students who want to go into creative professional fields. Dr. Henry Bleattler, associate professor of history and the humanities, connected her with the program and encouraged her to apply.

Kiera has found the internship a healthy challenge, yet feels well-equipped by her King’s classes to succeed in her role and weave her faith into her work. She said, “I just love how faith comes into everything King’s does. It’s never, ‘Here’s just the content.’ It’s, ‘This content relates to your faith in this specific way.’ I always try to go into an internship, or anything, with the mindset of, ‘What can I learn about God through this?’”

She has also found that the culture at King’s has given her the soft skills she needs to thrive in a professional environment, such as managing her time well and thinking outside of the box.

Juliette Kheyfets, Dow Jones

Juliette Kheyfets (Finance ’22) is interning this summer at Dow Jones, which, in addition to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, publishes business news and investing information in a variety of media sources. Juliette is working as an intern on global payments, focusing on expenses. Her role focuses on processing open fiscal requests, ensuring that each department stays within its budget.

As a finance major at King’s, Juliette found her Business Communications class with Prof. Brian Brenberg especially helpful. In that class she learned how to present in front of a camera, talk about herself in the best light possible, and feel confident in an interview, all skills that were helpful in landing her internship.

With her work at Dow Jones based in Microsoft Excel, Juliette has also found Dr. Dami Kabiawu’s Advanced Excel class indispensable. That class gave her a solid foundation in Excel and the projects she completed studying under Kabiawu became her work samples when applying to Dow Jones. She says she has felt well-prepared by her King’s education, having learned how to balance projects and timelines while excelling in a fast-paced company culture.

Juliette said, “King’s is very mission driven and it teaches its students to be very mission driven. It also teaches its students to work very hard. This has served me well, because when I was interviewing I was able to connect with the Dow Jones mission: providing information that people can actually trust. That made me stand out and find more fulfillment in the position.”

Montgomery Drumm, CFA Society Scholarship

Montgomery Drumm (Finance ’22) was awarded the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Society New York Heloise Ham Scholarship, while also being selected as the co-recipient of the 2021 Distinguished Scholar award. Montgomery competed in the CFA Society’s business competition alongside the King’s Financial Services Club, and won the scholarship through additional essays that he submitted individually.

As a part of the competition, the King’s Financial Services team was tasked with creating an equity report with a valuation and a 12 month price target on a hypothetical company. With the help of Prof. Michael Hrynuik, the team spent several months researching the company before creating and presenting their report to a panel of industry experts.

Montgomery said that his and the team’s efforts were bolstered by their accounting classes at King’s, giving them the insight needed to understand the structure of the company and create a compelling investment thesis. When thinking about what this scholarship means for his future, Montgomery shared, “After I graduate from King’s I hope to either become an analyst at an investment fund or to go into the business consulting space. I hope to use my liberal arts education and financial knowledge from King’s to be a voice of truth in the financial world.”


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