HWS News
22 December 2016 Rusk '17 Completes Fourth Internship
While interning as an insurance analyst at M&T Bank, Michael Rusk '17 conducted research on the potential harm of pharmaceutical drugs that were used to launch wellness programs at several companies throughout Western New York. Working in the Group Benefits Department at M&T's Buffalo, N.Y. office, he used the research to help develop educational materials that were distributed to employees on how to reduce or better use prescription drugs and improve their health.
"The most important part of my summer internship was learning about leadership from my M&T supervisors, and their willingness to include me in strategic discussions," Rusk says.
Before his internship at M&T, Rusk had several internships across various industries in Buffalo. In 2014, the East Amherst-native worked at Trubee, Collins & Co., Inc. brokerage firm and in 2015 at Calspan, an engineering design, testing and research services company, where his focus was on assessing business opportunities in the aeronautics field.
Last fall while studying in Brussels, he worked at World Natural Care, applying the concept of customer-value-based marketing to help improve margins and create conditions for a healthy management at the green solutions for the cosmetics and pharmacy company.
"In Belgium, I created brochures and revamped World Natural Cares website. They trained me in customer-value-based management, which I was then able to incorporate into my M&T bank internship," Rusk says.
Through these internships, his classes and from a variety of leadership roles he has had on campus, Rusk has been able to apply his experiences to the work place.
"As the treasurer of Hobart Student Government, I have allocated thousands of dollars to more than 100 clubs," he says. "And serving as captain of the Hobart tennis team helped me feel confident in my ability to contribute to team discussions at M&T Bank."
As a Statesman, Rusk has been named All-Liberty League First Team Singles and received an honorable mention, as well as the Myron V. Jacobs '37 award given to a member of the tennis team who has demonstrated excellence as a tennis player and as a citizen of the College community.
Rusk is a media and society major with a concentration in marketing and an economics minor.
