The clock read 1 a.m., and Nathan Jessop was still wrestling to finish the financial report his internship sponsor was expecting the next day. The thought came: Ask for help. But he resisted.
Jessop, from Nashville, Tennessee, was one of five students working for American Express (Amex) as part of BYU Marriott’s on-campus internship (OCI) program, which facilitates unpaid student internships for companies. During the fall and winter semesters, the OCI program assigns a position to every applicant, so even less-experienced students get résumé-building opportunities.
Beyond providing technical skills and a résumé boost, the Amex OCI reframed Jessop’s mindset—especially after he learned that the financial report he didn’t ask for help on was missing some crucial details. “One of the biggest failures in these settings is not being humble enough to seek help,” Jessop says. “I just wanted to get it all perfectly done, but by the end of the internship, I was okay saying, ‘I don’t know,’ because the whole point is to learn and grow.”
The program’s accessibility was also key for Jessop, who came to BYU hoping to major in finance but lacking any connections in the field. Jessop’s internship with Amex was his third OCI. “Working in a real business setting accelerated my learning,” he says. “I’m excited for the tools I have in my tool belt now.”
The culminating OCI presentations at Amex in Sandy, Utah, included reports from each member of the five-person BYU Marriott intern team. Expecting to present for 10 people at most, intern Vincent Lee found himself answering questions from 30 Amex officials. But Lee had already practiced digging deep while producing credit reports during the OCI. “That prepared me for the questions the officials asked,” says Lee, who is originally from Hong Kong.
The hands-on experience Lee garnered through his OCI helped him as he job-hunted. Lee landed a full-time job as a commercial credit analyst with Bank of America after graduating with his BYU Marriott finance degree in 2025. “I talked about what I did during the OCI in my interview, and that helped me nail the offer,” he says.
The OCI experience was especially valuable for Lee, whose status as an international student made securing traditional internships more complicated. His teammate Alaia Chen, a BYU finance senior from China, also faced this challenge. “The OCI program is such a brilliant idea, especially for international students,” says Chen. Off-campus work is often restricted for international students, so on-campus, unpaid internships offer a vital alternative. International or not, students also get the chance to refine their career goals. As Chen puts it, “OCIs are a good way to explore the options out there.”
The Amex OCI turned out to be a great springboard for Jessop, who was accepted into the finance program in fall 2025 and now approaches his classes with a fresh perspective. Looking back on the night he tried to shoulder a project alone, Jessop now sees the bigger picture: “I’m super grateful for the on-campus internship program—that it exists and gives opportunities to every student, no matter what.”