Project leads to job for Supply Chain Management Certificate student

Update | Monday, September 20, 2021

Family-owned third-party logistics provider ODW has been a continual supporter of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) program at Columbus State. The Central Ohio-based company has hired students and hosted student interns. ODW recently turned to Columbus State’s SCM department to request student help with a short-term project. One of their facilities was experiencing quality issues  and the entire process, from initial goods receipt to final shipment, needed to be re-documented and tested. unable to assign the project to current employees, they contacted SCM faculty member Jeremy Banta to see if any Columbus State SCM students might be interested in helping with the project. 

In fact, six SCM students signed on for the challenge. One certificate student, Janelle Myers, made a lasting impression on Kristin Beechy, ODW corporate quality manager. Beechy said, “I hated to lose Janelle Myers in the quality department, but more so, I hated for ODW to lose her!” She received approval to hire Myers in a permanent, part-time capacity after the project ended. 

Myers came to Columbus State with a bachelor’s degree in humanities and a career in the financial services sector. Banta said she realized she was interested in a career change and had always been interested in the supply chain and the intricacies of how ‘stuff’ gets from one place to another. Banta said, “She also said ‘watching a lot of trains with her boy’ over the years made her even more interested in the industry.” After doing research, Myers decided to go back to school and study SCM at Columbus State. 

“When she received the announcement about the ODW project, she saw an opportunity to apply what she’d already learned,” said Banta. “After a few months at ODW, a full-time opportunity unexpectedly came up, and Janelle was a shoo-in for the job.”  ODW’s Beechy added, “Myers is using the knowledge she has gained, and continues to gain in a real-time setting in our distribution center and continues to do an amazing job!” Myers is equally excited about the opportunity and said, “What I like about Columbus State is the real-world application, especially when the instructors bring their own real-world experiences into the classroom,” she said.

Myers is now the regional quality coordinator for one of ODWs Columbus facilities and is hoping to wrap up her certificate next semester. 

Pictured below: Columbus State SCM Certificate student Janelle Myers (left) and her manager at ODW Logistics, Kristin Beechy, as they served as virtual guest speakers for the Supply Chain Management Department. 

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