While most teenagers are lounging on the beach or going to camp, junior Nathan Ding will spend his time off at an internship in China.
Ding will travel to Shanghai, China, to spend five weeks of his summer as an intern at WuXi AppTec, a leading global biopharmaceutical company.
“They do other research things for bigger biopharmaceutical companies, so I’ll be helping in their corporate development department with the vice president of corporate development,” said Ding.
The unique opportunity for an internship with someone of such high status was initially created by Ding’s father after Nathan expressed his interest in business.
“My dad is actually friends with the guy, which is how I got to meet him,” said Ding.
Ding eagerly seized the opportunity and is excited to get to know the people of WuXi AppTec to learn more about the world of business.
“The best thing I want to get out of this experience is working with all these higher-up professionals who have done this stuff for so long and they know a lot about business and the whole industry and just getting to kind of pick their brains a bit on what to do and what not to do,” said Ding.
Working for an international company and living in a foreign city will be a fresh experience for Ding, who has been to China before, but never alone.
“I try to go back like every other year when my family goes back. This is the first time I’ll be going back by myself, which will be interesting and new,” said Ding.
Hoping he can assimilate into both China’s corporate and social world, Ding is eagerly anticipating his summer internship.
“I’m looking forward to it. Probably should brush up on my Chinese a bit,” said Ding.