When voters put pencil to paper on November 8, most will have candidates and ballot issues in mind. Nebraska Wesleyan University student Danylo Serednytsky will most likely be thinking about processes thanks to an internship that provided him a firsthand look at election equipment.
Serednytsky, a junior from Omaha, spent his summer interning at Election Systems and Software (ES&S), the world’s largest election company. Located in Omaha, Neb., ES&S provides election equipment, software and services used by U.S. municipalities and counties to help run fair and accurate elections. Nebraska Wesleyan graduate Tom Burt ('95) is the company’s president and chief executive officer.
“ES&S holds a large percent of the market share in election services,” said Serednytsky. “This was a chance for me to experience what working for a very successful company was like, and there was really no reason not to accept.”
The accounting major welcomed the opportunity to work in the company’s accounting and finance department where he analyzed and entered data into the company’s reporting software to help ES&S better visualize their revenue and expense budgets.
“I learned more than I could have ever imagined. I learned about cost accounting and management, and also about general accounting and finance practices.” Serednytsky reflected. “My experience at ES&S has already helped me in the classroom, as I am able to relate classroom ideas to the real world and understand them better.”
And putting pencil to paper on Election Day now has greater application for Serednytsky. His vote is for students to explore all possibilities through internships.
“In a perfect world, everything in the real world would be exactly how it is in the classroom, but that is far from how it really is. Accept every open hand, and hit the ground running.”