Meet City of Beverly Hills Parking Department intern and USC Marshall School of Business senior Stacy Cruz! 

Cruz grew up in Los Angeles, California, near USC. She was executive editor of her high school news and found she that she enjoyed the project management aspect of being the editor. She decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in business, and was pleased to find that the USC Marshall School of Business offers many varied courses in a broad array of business subjects as part of its undergraduate programming.

Cruz shared that one such subject is basic data analytics, which she found fascinating and describes as “studying, transforming, and inspecting data for patterns for enhancement of business decisions.” She was excited to hear that the City of Beverly Hills was looking for an Administrative Intern to work in data analysis.

Cruz enjoys the opportunity her internship affords her to contribute to the Parking Department in numerous ways. She shared that she provides and studies statistical information on the success of City events in terms of parking revenue, compares these numbers to previous years, tracks trends, addresses anomalies, and creates Excel spreadsheets with detailed information about occupancy and system accuracy.  Cruz added that her responsibilities also include tracking and organizing invoices, and communicating with multiple vendors.

Cruz is very excited to work for a municipality, and finds her work meaningful and rewarding.  She is particularly impressed by the value the parking system adds to the city. “Without the carefully thought-out parking system in Beverly Hills, the city would certainly not be as successful as it is,” she remarked.  When asked what she would advise students, Cruz says that she believes it is essential to take time while still in college to familiarize yourself with how things work in the real world and to always be watching for opportunities to take your career in a way that is most meaningful to you.

We wish Stacy Cruz the best of luck in her future endeavors!

About the Author:

Adylbek Abdykalikov is a graduate student in the International Public Policy and Management Program at USC Price. He has working experience in various positions at the Ministries of Transport and Communication and Investment and Development of Kazakhstan and was in charge of Transportation and Civil Aviation policy development and implementation. He serves as the lead writer to METRANS Newsletter and lead student event coordinator for METRANS and PSR.