Catching up with Lee Verdecchia
It’s a little hard to believe that four years have nearly passed since Lee Verdecchia graduated from Huntington High School along with other members of the Class of 2006. He’s a senior at Boston University, but he’s far away from America’s shores right now.
“I’m in London through the BU London study abroad program,” Mr. Verdecchia said last week. The program consists of about 250 students, half from Boston University and half from various other schools across the United States.
“The program I’m in is an internship program,” the Huntington grad explained. “I have been here since Aug 30th and will be here until Dec 12th of this year. It is a 16-week program in which I receive 16 university credits at the end.”
The first eight weeks of the program saw Mr. Verdecchia enrolled in two classes: Marketing Strategy in the UK and Advertising in the UK. “The purpose of these classes was for me to get a better grasp on the advertising industry in a different culture, and to follow up in a work environment in this different culture,” he said. “The second eight weeks involve one more class (meeting once a week for four hours) and an internship” that runs Tuesday throughout Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“The way that it works is that I interviewed last spring at BU with a liaison from the London program,” the Huntington alum said. “They helped me narrow down internship choices and scheduled me for an interview with an advertising agency a couple weeks after I arrived in London. My internship is with Dentsu UK Ltd., formerly CDP (Collett Dickenson Pearce). Dentsu UK is a subsidiary of Dentsu Group, which is one of the largest advertising agencies in the world.”
Dentsu UK is a small group of about 25-30 employees, “so I have really been able to be a part of the team here and help out on some major projects,” Mr. Verdecchia said. “Our biggest client is Canon. We are doing all of the advertising work for them in the UK, and working with a localization agency to advertise in 24 other countries as well. Other clients at Dentsu are Nintendo, Toyota, Hitachi, and Uniqlo. This is my first internship and I have been fortunate enough to work with some great people in a fun and productive work environment.”
When his semester in London is over, Mr. Verdecchia will head back to Boston University in the U.S. for his last set of classes in anticipation of graduating in May 2010. “I hope to work in an advertising agency or in a creative industry somewhere in New York City after that,” he said. “Dentsu has a branch in New York, so maybe I will be able to network and get an interview with them.”
Between semesters this winter, Mr. Verdecchia intends to begin the process of finding a permanent job. “Right now, though, I have been experiencing so many different cultures and lifestyles and just taking it all in,” he said. “I’ve traveled to Dublin in Ireland, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Munich in Germany (for Oktoberfest), Madrid and Barcelona in Spain and I am going to Scotland to explore the mountains in one of their national parks at the end of November.”
At Huntington, Mr. Verdecchia captained the Blue Devils’ 2005 Suffolk championship football team and at various points also ran track and played lacrosse and basketball. He earned fierce loyalty from a core group of friends and teammates.
Would he head to London for a semester if he had to do it all over again? “I think it was a great opportunity to come abroad and it has been an awesome work, educational, and life experience,” he said.
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