Aug 25, 2021
BTE Student Stories
Written By: Andrew Gibson, Pathway to Success Participant
BTE Alumni Site: Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, USA
I’ve been involved in the Pathway to Success program ever since the opportunity was presented to me at the end of high school. I had already completed Johnson & Johnson’s Bridge to Employment (BTE) program. Johnson & Johnson had been involved in my school for almost my entire high school experience at Phoenixville Area High School in Pennsylvania. BTE gave me and a lot of my classmates some valuable experience into what the working world looked like. Many different Johnson & Johnson professionals donated countless hours of their time to be able to develop the skills of students like me at my high school. This is eventually what allowed me to continue with the Pathway to Success program, which is open to select BTE alumni continuing to college.
With my first two years of college now behind me at Penn State University, I can now see all the benefits that the Pathway to Success program has given me outside of the classroom. For example, one of the major components of this program was to be chosen for a Johnson & Johnson internship. Preparing for this goal consisted of the Pathway to Success team’s preparing and developing resumes and other professional portfolio pieces, as well as interview preparation. Being able to have all this support through the past few years has given me opportunities that I never would have thought were attainable until now, including my current internship placement. This summer, I am serving as a technology intern with the Information Security and Risk Management team with Johnson & Johnson.
“Without the support and preparation of the Pathway to Success program, I would not have been able to have developed the skills and secure the internship experience that I have right now. .”
If you could be a part of this amazing program, my advice is to take advantage because it will allow you to strive to accomplish your early career goals.