Name: Alison Park
Major: Management Information Systems
Hometown: York, PA
Internship: Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services (Arlington, VA)
If it weren’t for a particular course at the Fox School of Business, Alison Park’s 2025 summer might have gone very differently.
Her future career plans might have, too.
“In spring of 2024, I took the class ‘cloud architecture’ (MIS3406) and I immediately became really interested in the course and its subject matter,” says Park, class of 2026.
“The class offered a lot as a Management Information Systems (MIS) major, so the following semester I applied for the internship and became an information technology assistant (ITA) for the cloud architecture course. Our section’s adjunct professor taught me about his full-time role as a ‘solutions architect’ within the field and I thought right away how it would be a great fit for me to pursue professionally.”
And so far, Park is on a path to do just that: she returns to the Fox School for her penultimate undergraduate semester after spending the summer as a solutions architect intern for Amazon Web Services (AWS). She completed her internship at “Amazon HQ2,” the company’s corporate headquarters in Arlington, VA.
“I find my internship has offered me so many amazing benefits, including invaluable real-world content that classroom learning cannot replicate.”
Her internship gave her a first-hand experience and education of the cloud infrastructure industry and of the solutions architect role. Some of these included learning new cloud services, studying for specific AWS certifications, and networking opportunities with industry professionals, partners and her fellow interns.
Solution architects are responsible for ensuring a company’s software systems, applications or technologies work together successfully. Park believes this role is a “perfect blend” of two major pillars from her Fox School education: technical proficiency and business application.
“The role is a unique intersection of technical expertise and customer engagement—primary professional components that blend together all the major pillars from both my MIS studies and education at Fox,” Park says.
Park also served as lead on an internship project utilizing AWS’ advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) services. Tasks included her working to build software features that expanded her project’s self-service capabilities and analytics.
And while her internship with AWS might be complete, her relationship with the company isn’t: Park is a student leader for the educational and networking “AWS YouthTech” event on Sept. 5. The collaborative initiative between Temple, AWS and various student professional organizations aims to cultivate diverse tech talent and offer students the opportunity to explore cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning through workshops while networking with AWS professionals.
Park’s internship was held at Amazon’s HQ2 headquarters in Arlington, VA.
Photo courtesy of Alison Park
As she begins her senior year, Park expects her intern experience to have a positive impact on her time in the classroom, and even specific assignments.
“AWS is an organization that consistently strives to introduce new solutions to complex problems with a commitment to innovation, so concepts such as critical thinking, problem solving, how to implement structured solutions—these are all lessons that are transferrable to my academic performance at Fox,” Park says.
“The concepts I learned, such as systematic problem solving, will be things I go back to.”
She knows her experience will better the start of her career, too.
“I find my internship has offered me so many amazing benefits, including invaluable real-world content that classroom learning cannot replicate,” Park says.
“As I consider my pursuits beyond graduation, critical skills such as skill application, professional network development with industry mentors, and self-discovery for career preferences or strengths are all things I am very thankful to have gained experience in.”