From Challenge to Impact: Stories from the Internship Challenge

It started last September at the Growing Global 2024 Event. The St. Louis Mosaic Project launched a challenge: 10 City companies and 10 County companies would open their doors to international STEM students for at least six weeks of real-world experience.

And what happens when opportunity knocks and you say yes? Sometimes, that “yes” sparks a story worth sharing.

That’s exactly what unfolded through the International Student Summer 2025 Internship Challenge.

We took on the challenge. It gave us the chance to welcome fresh perspectives, explore diverse problem-solving approaches, and connect with bright new talent eager to gain U.S. work experience in St. Louis.

Meet Our Interns

Three unique journeys, each marked by own style, strengths, and a spark of curiosity. What united them all was the determination to give their best.

• Vaishnavi Mailwar, Saint Louis University (SLU):

  She rolled up her sleeves and started working with us the very next day after the intense and destructive 2025 St. Louis tornado. She contributed to the City of St. Louis’s tornado recovery efforts.

  Working alongside the Mayor’s Office and City IT teams, she helped launch the STL Recovers Volunteer Reporting Portal on Salesforce and supported the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) Business Recovery Management Application on Salesforce, strengthening the city’s ability to serve local businesses; and helped in the designing and development of the AI-powered collaboration agent.

• Sai Kaushik Alturi, University of Colorado Denver:

  He made the bold choice to relocate to St. Louis for the internship program, and today he proudly calls himself a city resident. The St. Louis Mosaic Internship Challenge’s mission is not only to retain but also to attract global talent to our region. He already has a solid Master Degree and Experience in AI, ML & Data Analytics.

  Kaushik contributed to the design and development of an AI-powered collaboration agent, building agents that can transform a user story to important user stories and tasks to Project Management tools like ADO. He also played a key role in developing the Business Recovery Management Application—supporting testing, migration, and deployment.

• Lipika Baniya, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE):

  Her determination showed before day one. Lipika arrived for her final interview during a tornado warning. We were concerned for her safety, but her courage set the tone for the summer. She learned all things around Generative AI in Salesforce and built AI Agents to boost productivity.

  During the summer internship, our interns prototyped an AI-powered collaboration agent that captures meeting updates, summarizes key points for managers, and automatically identifies insights and action items. This lightweight tool showcases how fresh ideas, paired with Generative AI, can drive productivity and efficiency in real-world business workflows. She also supported the development of the STL Recovers Portal and the Business Recovery Management Application.

The Summer of Learning and Culture

• Exploring thought leaders like Andrej Karpathy and learning from organizations such as Y Combinator.
• Building their very first AI agents and experimenting with generative AI.
• Working hands-on with Salesforce—training on Agentforce, creating their own AI agents, and even earning Salesforce certifications during and after the program.
• Understanding how Salesforce platforms are applied across industries and why industry knowledge can sometimes be even more valuable than technical know-how.
• Discovering that creativity is just as critical as technology when it comes to building solutions.

And the impact?

• Contributed to the STL Recovers Volunteer Shift Reporting Portal to manage volunteer hours for tornado relief.
• Helped build the SLDC Business Recovery Management solution on Salesforce to support businesses after the storm.
• Presented demos, told their stories, and engaged directly with customers-learning how to communicate ideas with impact.
• Most importantly, they saw what tech consulting for Salesforce in St. Louis looks like—standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the City’s IT teams and leveraging Generative AI to deliver meaningful solutions when the community needed them most.

Beyond the office

Fridays became a tradition. Exploring St. Louis Forest Park drives, Ted Drewes custard, Clementine’s ice cream, and dinners on The Hill. Other times, our interns brought their cultures to us:

• Lipika served homemade Nepali momos with chutney.
• Sai shared his favorite Indian dishes.
• Vaishnavi treated the team to chicken biryani.

It became a beautiful exchange of cultures, flavors, and stories—exactly what the Growing Global vision is about.

Generative AI as Impact Amplifier

While interns may have limited professional experience, they brought curiosity, research-driven energy, and bold questions. With AI tools, they delivered creative solutions at remarkable speed.

For Omniskope, AI was a capability booster. It helped us structure learning, guide projects, and ensure our interns had meaningful, high-impact experiences—without stretching our team beyond capacity.

From Interns to Consultants

The most rewarding part? Two of our interns are now full-time Salesforce consultants at Omniskope (while Lipika is pursuing her Masters). Today, they’re contributing to client projects, delivering innovative solutions, and keeping the momentum of learning, growth, and impact.

Growing Global 2025 and Beyond

We’re proud to once again support the Growing Global event on September 24, 2025, and continue building pathways that bring inclusive talent to St. Louis. Looking ahead to 2026, we plan to expand further—welcoming not only international students, but also participants from OJT and other workforce development programs, helping more people transition into tech careers & AI.

None of this would be possible without the vision and tireless work of the St. Louis Mosaic Project team, whose efforts to champion international talent have helped the St. Louis region thrive.

Nurturing Global Talent, Growing Stronger

The St. Louis Mosaic Internship Challenge is about shaping the future of St. Louis. When we open doors, we don’t just change lives; we strengthen our city, our talent pipeline, and our ability to thrive as a global region. At Omniskope, we’re grateful to contribute, and we look forward to many more summers of growth, impact, and community building.