“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin

GRA Quantum welcomed a diverse and talented team of interns to the GRA family in January. From start to finish, our Winter 2016 interns have embodied GRA Quantum’s core values—innovation, integrity, perseverance, and teamwork. Together, our interns successfully navigated challenging projects, often juggling multiple assignments at once and contributing new ideas. At every turn, they proved themselves to be a remarkable group of young people.

After months of researching topics of their choosing, our interns presented their capstone projects to GRA Quantum’s senior leadership. Peter Mihalopoulos explored the limitations of today’s cyber risk insurance offerings in the face of cyberattacks against critical national infrastructure, while Tess Wallenstein examined cybersecurity threats likely to plague the upcoming summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Vish Sundar and Chelsea Hemphill reviewed GRA Quantum’s social media and brand awareness strategies.

“It was exciting to turn the tables and teach a group of people that has taught me so much,” said Tess Wallenstein. “GRA Quantum has made me feel like a part of the family throughout my internship, and our capstone presentations exemplified that team experience.”

“It was oddly satisfying to trick a former intelligence officer into looking under his chair during a social engineering demonstration,” added Peter Mihalopoulos, in reference to GRA Quantum’s Founder and CEO Kevin Chalker.

“It has been such a learning experience,“ remarked Vishaka Sundar. “The opportunities to challenge myself were endless, and I thoroughly enjoyed delving into the strategy implementation process.“

“The internship was a great experience because I was given the freedom and encouragement to set a game plan and achieve our social media goals,” said social media intern, Chelsea Hemphill. “The capstone was exciting because I was able to show how our hard work is paying off.”

The capstone presentations were also a chance for GRA Quantum’s team to reflect on all that our interns have brought to the table.

“I love how active and engaged our interns are in our real business,” said Director of Communications, Matt DeVivo. “It was a pleasure to sit down and see how much they’ve contributed over the past season. At GRA Quantum, you learn something new every day. Our DC interns continued to prove that through their comprehensive and impressive research.”

The GRA Quantum family enjoyed watching our interns grow, learn, and bond throughout the course of their internships. We look forward to seeing what this crop of bright, motivated individuals will accomplish in their future endeavors.

To learn about current internship opportunities with GRA Quantum, please click here.