UA Little Rock Student Turns Classroom Skills Into Real-World Impact at Lexicon

University of Arkansas at Little Rock student-athlete Elena Nikolaeva put her classroom skills to the test this summer as a business intelligence analytics intern at Lexicon, developing two interactive dashboards that are now actively used by the company to help members of the Analytics and Human Resources teams make better decisions.

Nikolaeva, a senior business information systems major from Moscow, Russia, spent two months at Lexicon in Little Rock working with multiple data sources to turn complex information into clear, organized visualizations for company stakeholders.

“My main focus this summer was learning how to work with multiple data sources and developing interactive dashboards that provide stakeholders with an overview of the data in a clear and organized way,” she said.

Nikolaeva, a member of the Little Rock Trojans swimming and diving team, a School of Business ambassador, and a student in the Chancellor’s Leadership Corps, found the opportunity while searching for a summer internship during her junior year. After applying to internship programs through LinkedIn, she was contacted by Lexicon and went through several interviews before accepting the position.

The internship gave Nikolaeva an opportunity to directly apply skills she learned in the classroom at UA Little Rock. During the spring semester, she took a course where she learned to use Power BI, a data visualization tool she would go on to use throughout her summer internship. Another class that helped prepare her was Systems Development Methodologies, which she said helped her better understand the relationships between different data sources.

Trevor Craig, software systems development manager at Lexicon, said Nikolaeva took ownership of her internship and was eager to expand her skills throughout the summer.

“Elena was eager to learn and utilized various online resources to self-educate herself on how to accomplish different things in Power BI, which can be a very intimidating tool due to its complexity,” Craig said. “She fought her way through many challenges, setbacks, design reviews, and permissions issues to arrive at two insightful dashboards that we now use regularly.”

Craig said Nikolaeva’s work ethic and determination stood out throughout the internship.

“Elena’s work ethic, determination, attitude, collaboration, relational skills, and the desire to do things right the first time will take her very far in life,” Craig said. “It was a pleasure to have her on the team.”

While her coursework provided a technical foundation, working at Lexicon gave Nikolaeva a firsthand look at how those skills are applied within a company. She learned more about how different departments interact and said the experience has given her a new perspective to bring back to the classroom.

“I am actually so excited to go back to school now and be able to learn more, already having this experience and background,” Nikolaeva said.

The experience also helped her grow beyond her technical skills.

“It made me step out of my comfort zone, and I was trying to talk to as many people as possible,” Nikolaeva said. “And the skill of just being able to talk to anyone is really helpful.”

The internship also helped her gain a clearer picture of what she may want to pursue after graduating from UA Little Rock.

“I really enjoyed what I worked on this summer, and I think it will be a great path to start my career,” Nikolaeva said. “It definitely helped me learn about other positions and what other opportunities are available.”

For other UA Little Rock students considering internships but unsure whether they have enough experience to apply, Nikolaeva encourages them to take the opportunity even if they do not feel completely prepared.

“You just have to trust the process and do everything possible that is in your control. Be positive, respectful and nice to everyone,” Nikolaeva said. “I had no idea what to expect from this internship, but it turned out to be the best experience and one of the most fun summers I have had.”