Chamber Hosts CAYLA Intern Keevon Baten

Hello I’m Keevon Baten. I am interning for the summer at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce as part of the City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (CAYLA).

Hello I’m Keevon Baten. I am interning for the summer at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce as part of the City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (CAYLA). I am a rising senior at the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville (SILSA). I have enjoyed interning at the Asheville Area Chamber so far and look forward to an eventful and fulfilling internship.

The first week of my internship has been a great experience. On my first day, at the chamber I was greeted by Clark Duncan, the Director of Business and Industry Services at the Chamber. Mr. Duncan has served as my supervisor and friend while at the Chamber. My first couple of days were spent with the Economic Development department of the Chamber. On Monday I was introduced to the staff at the Chamber and given a tour. I also had lunch with Benjamin Teague, Senior Vice President for Economic Development, and Rick Lutovsky, the President of the Chamber. I enjoyed having lunch with them and learned a lot of valuable life lessons from them. On Tuesday I meet with County Commission Ray Bailey. Mr. Bailey is a great man and I benefitted a lot from our talk on leadership. On Wednesday morning I sat in on a meeting between Ray Denny, Vice President of Economic Development, and representatives from Ward and Smith, P.A. Later that evening I went on a tour of the AvL Technologies and learned more about engineering, which is a possible major in college I’m considering. On Thursday I spent the day with Membership Services and Communications Department of the Chamber and I helped to setup and run the monthly Business-After hours, which were held on Antler Hill Village in the Biltmore Estate.

I’ve really enjoyed my experience at the chamber thus far. The people here are very friendly and make me feel at home. In my past three years of doing CAYLA internships, this has been the most enjoyable and fulfilling internship for me. In my short experience at the chamber the one lesson I feel like I’ve learned is the importance of making lasting good relationships.