WSU student learns leadership skills during operations internship at Airbus

Editor's note: This story was reported and written before the March 16 move by Wichita State University to remote learning and subsequent "Stay at Home" order by the state of Kansas brought on by the pandemic.

Wichita State senior Angelique Banh thought leadership came with age and credentials. Her experience working retail jobs taught her to take direction and wait for responsibility and opportunity.

Her experience in the Professional Edge Program in the W. Frank Barton School of Business changed that thinking. 

“I hadn’t really seen myself as a leader in a work environment,” she said. “I always saw myself as the new person. I wasn’t really confident in that aspect.”

Banh invested her time in leadership seminars hosted by Professional Edge and was able to incorporate the lessons into her Airbus internship, part of Wichita State’s applied learning ecosystem. Her connection to the internship started with Pro Edge seminars hosted on-site by Airbus and presented by Airbus executives. That introduction opened the door to Banh’s internship.

Her familiarity with Wichita State puts her in position to work as liaison between Airbus and the campus. She uses her campus network to help Airbus employees become more visible around Wichita State, which helps the company make the best use of its location on the WSU campus.

“Leadership isn’t necessarily about having a title. It’s definitely more about your actions and your influence on other people,” she said. “People might look to someone else as a leader, even though they might be younger than them.”

The Professional Edge program, open to all undergraduate business majors, is a free four-semester non-credit program sponsored by Meritrust Credit Union. Its focus is to provide students advanced and specific skills such as email and social media etiquette, navigating meetings, cultural and global competencies, disruptive curiosity, servant leadership, finding mentors, negotiating compensation packages and building a professional network.

Students participate in required seminars that deal with topics ranging from communication and self-assessment to interviewing and diversity. Students hear from professionals from companies such as Meritrust, Koch Industries, the FBI, the Navy, Baseline Creative, BKD and Hopping Gnome Brewing Co.

Banh, who is majoring in marketing, management and human resource management, started at Airbus as a business operations intern in June. The seminars and events required as part of the Professional Edge program helped prepare her for the internship and for the career search that follows.

“It’s a really good way to refine your soft skills,” she said. “In class, you’ll learn data analytics, research tactics and things like that. Professional Edge focuses on communication, resume building, interviewing, networking and leadership. These kinds of concepts aren’t taught directly in the classroom.”

At Airbus, Banh reports to Head of Engineering Operations Bill West. She works on marketing projects, promotes the United Way campaign, prepares presentations, schedules meetings and assists with administrative items. 

“WSU interns bring significant levels of enthusiasm, state-of-the-art knowledge of new tools and methodologies, and a fresh set of eyes for issues that we might have been looking at for quite a while,” West said. “The application of these benefits across Airbus has jump-started several new initiatives, but also provided additional energy within the organization.”

A seminar on networking demonstrated the importance of relationships and taught Banh that friendships, co-workers, volunteer work and more can open doors to careers. A presenter demonstrated a network with a Venn diagram that showed connections that can help, perhaps in unexpected ways.

“That made me think that, wow, I want my web to be as grand as hers was,” Banh said. “To hear it directly from local professionals makes it that much more valuable. You can introduce yourself to them and get their business card. You can make those connections early on, even before you graduate, which I think is priceless. It’s easier to find jobs that way.”

When those networking opportunities lead to applied learning experiences for Wichita State students, Brian Austin of the Career Development Center, credits Professional Edge and the program director, Wendy Veatch.

“She’s out there trying to make things happen for her students,” Austin said. “And it makes a difference. Wendy has a good professional network. We have a good professional network and those overlap in a lot of ways. Any time I have somebody who is interested in business students, Wendy is my first introduction.”