Cade Crockett: A Summer Internship Spotlight

Senior Cade Crockett (Classical Liberal Arts) spent the summer in Tifton, Georgia, interning in the department of financial planning and analysis for Heatcraft Refrigeration Products.

With the help of his career mentor, Vice President Howard Schmidt, Cade Crockett secured an interview with Heatcraft to become a financial analysis intern.

It did not go according to plan. "I bombed it," Crockett said to Schmidt. "This is the end! This is it." He had not answered the questions to the best of his ability, particularly when the interviewer asked why a CLA student would want to interview for a financial analysis internship.

Schmidt advised him not to give up. So, Crockett emailed his interviewer. He admitted he had not done his best and said he wanted to answer the question, "Why are you studying CLA?" with more clarity. Crockett's interviewer was impressed, so he gave Crockett a second chance at the interview.

This time he went into the interview with more preparation and prayer. When it came down to it a second time, Crockett had a ready answer to the question, "Why study CLA?"

His answer could be summed up in the sentence: “I am a learner.” The liberal arts prepare students to think in an interdisciplinary manner, so although he did not have a specialized degree or technical experience, his major prepared him to learn new skills quickly. Crockett also emphasized his proficiency in Excel and the experience he gained in his EBA classes.

Crockett's internship highlight was fixing a problem in an Excel file that created tension and frustration for the team. To compensate for the issue, there were extra steps on everyone's checklist. Yet no one had invested time to fix the problem.

One day, Crockett finished his tasks early and asked to take a stab at solving this issue. In half an hour, he had solved the mistake and corrected the spreadsheet, crossing off an entire category of to-dos from everyone’s checklist.

In that moment, Crockett realized that going above and beyond his tasks to bless others and bring glory to God is the ultimate purpose, even in the most mundane task. The part of work that he enjoyed most was not just meeting the daily quota, but going above and beyond in the time he had. 

Technical experience and perfect resumes are not the prerequisites for internships and jobs. "It's not about you. It's about being faithful to take the next step," Crockett said.

God calls students to live virtuously, love learning, and pursue opportunities with humility. If students do this, they will be good employees. "At the end of the day," Crockett said, "God will get you a job."

Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.