Thomas De Angelus

Thomas De Angelus is a Senior from Gainesville, Virginia who is studying Business Management focusing on the Human Resource Management option. We asked Thomas about his journey so far which includes academics, internships and student organizations.

Why did you choose Virginia Tech and why did you choose the Business Management major?

I chose Virginia Tech for its renowned “self-starter” mentality. Initially a Communication Studies major, I shifted gears to Business Management once I knew the Human Resources field was meant for me and my hopeful career path.

Were there any specific classes that you remember as validating your major choice to date?

MGT 3424 – HR Staffing and Development, validated my major choice as it enveloped how much the profession positively affects every single employee when done well.

Has there been a faculty member or staff member within Pamplin and/or the MGT department that has served as a mentor or source of inspiration for you during your journey?

During my Pamplin/MGT Department journey, a faculty member who has served as a source of inspiration is Professor Ryan Zimmerman. In his course MGT 3424 – Staffing, he consistently made textbook concepts come to life through exercises and real-life situations. The pace of which he taught was a perfect balance of challenge with attainment.                                   

What advice would you provide to an incoming Pamplin freshman?

The advice I would provide to an incoming Pamplin freshman, is do not wait to get involved with the College of Business. The faculty and staff are a great avenue to help prepar for life after college.

What/who is your inspiration for leadership? 

My inspiration for leadership is Teddy Roosevelt who said, “Speak softly, and carry a big stick”.

Name some of the internships that you had during your Virginia Tech and/or Pamplin journey

The internship that has applied specifically to my major Human Resources, during my Virginia Tech and/or Pamplin journey was as a Communications Intern for General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT). For the summer of 2019, I worked under the Integration Management Office (IMO) to curate a menagerie of employee specific communications.

Please provide a brief summary of your summer internship - who, when, how did you approach the process? ... Tell us about your daily/weekly interactions. 

I began approaching the internship process by attending career fairs in the early spring semester. I stumbled upon GDIT and the rest is history…

Most of my time as a Communications intern was focused on assisting my mentor Connie Klein (Director, Enterprise OCM). Under her guidance, I continuously crafted/edited an Integration Newsletter for all 35,000 employees of GDIT. This newsletter called OneWork, was exciting to work on because it is centered around the direct impact on the employee. OneWork led to the upkeep of its own web page as a secondary project of mine.

The entire IMO championed the team of interns I am a part of, having nominated Joshua Daniels and I for the STAR Performer Award which we won. The President of GDIT, Amy Gilliland (pictured with me below), acknowledged our accomplishment which was thrilling! This award included GDIT tickets to Nats Park for a beautiful baseball game which included complimentary food.

Beyond my position, I was involved with the Intern Communication Collaboration Project which included the launch of the intern communication page, Discord. Additionally, I worked on a companywide Intern Video Project in the capacity of the narrator and assistant to the editor to highlight wonderful experiences interns were exposed to during their time at GDIT during the summer.

This internship highlighted the capacity to which Human Resources is an integral part of the daily workforce. It gave me the chance to take practical knowledge from major specific courses and apply it across every communication medium. Communications and Human Resources perfectly intertwined to create a memorable experience for my final internship.

Any other words of wisdom or insights that you can provide us about you and your journey.

A: I was involved with getting The Management Society off the ground as the former Secretary in the organization. It was rewarding to see the tremendous growth since the spring 2019 semester to now. I am equally excited to have been the Student Lead for Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) at Virginia Tech this past semester for Fall of 2019. Currently I serve as SHRM’s Senior Advisor in my last semester of college. This shadows that of a consultant role while allowing for the executive board to remain autonomous. I enjoyed my time revamping the organization last semester as Student Lead prior to assembling SHRM’s first executive board in November. I am looking forward to seeing the growth of the student chapter before graduation and beyond. SHRM has carved out a nice niche under the umbrella pertaining the three student academic paths under The Management Society.