Experience has a unique way of teaching us things we could have never learned in a classroom.
When I was a junior in high school, I thought I had my future all figured out. I planned to pursue nursing and was fully invested in science. Until one random DECA business field trip competition introduced me to something I had never known before: marketing. I would never have thought that on the same day I had both learned and fallen in love with my future so fast. The creativity, the problem-solving, the impact. It came so naturally to me and allowed me to understand the feelings behind passion. It sounds so simple, but that one experience completely shifted my life for the better. Looking back, it’s fascinating to think about how one experience can open opportunities for another, eventually bringing me to Penn State and now to my second summer interning at Ideba.
People often preach how experience is the best teacher, and after the past two years, I have learned why. The biggest takeaways I have learned from Ideba aren’t what I could’ve picked up through a textbook or a course. They came from working on real projects, learning new software, asking questions, and most importantly, collaborating with others and, overall, seeing how ideas and tasks turn into meaningful work.
The most interesting thing is that I didn’t realize how much I had learned until I returned to school for my second year.
Concepts that once felt challenging suddenly felt familiar. I naturally found myself assisting classmates through my Excel course, taking the lead on PowerPoint Presentations in my PSAMA club, and approaching projects with a different level of confidence. It wasn’t because I suddenly became an expert, but because I had spent months applying and learning those skills in a real-life setting.
Fast forward to now, coming back to Ideba for a second summer made that realization even clearer. Last year, everything was new and a learning curve. I had spent a lot of my time learning the systems, asking questions, and figuring out things as they went. This summer has been a smooth transition of building on a foundation that had already felt comfortable. I have been able to take on bigger projects, face challenges, and appreciate how much I have grown in the past year.
Looking back, the power of saying “yes” to an opportunity like a high school field trip set everything that followed in motion. Every experience since that, from Penn State to Ideba, has built on the last, and each taught me something more about myself. Reminding me that growth doesn’t happen all at once; it happens with one opportunity, one project, and one experience at a time.
Mackenzie Harmer – Research Intern