Meet Avril
Internship: MountainOne
College: Eastern Connecticut State University
In summer 2018, Adams, Massachusetts native Avril Levesque interned at MountainOne Bank in North Adams through Lever’s Berkshire Interns program. Now, she’s Lever’s Communications Manager, drawing on her professional experience to coordinate events, keep in touch with constituents, and sometimes, work with new BI interns just beginning to gain experience of their own.
A 2019 graduate of Eastern Connecticut State University, Levesque was an active volunteer in college, serving as president of the ECSU Community Service Club. A community engagement internship at MountainOne was a great fit. “MountainOne is very outward-facing and involved with the community,” she said, “so I was the face of MountainOne when they put on events.” She coordinated swag giveaways for local baseball games, assembled staff to walk in Williamstown’s Fourth of July parade, and made sure MountainOne was represented at North Adams’ annual Downtown Celebration, working alongside Vice President of Community Engagement Kelli Kozak.
Through Berkshire Interns, Levesque also spent the summer attending landmark events in the Berkshires and meeting others in the BI program, from performances at the Williamstown Theater Festival and Jacob’s Pillow to professional networking events. BI offers its interns free tickets to these events. “That was a huge perk,” she said.
From MountainOne to the other BI interns to getting to know the Lever staff, “the most important takeaway was the connections I made,” she said. “I got to know a lot of great people.”
After graduation, an email survey sent to BI alumni led to mentorship from Lever—when Levesque indicated she’d like help with finding full-time work in the Berkshires, the staff helped her refine her resume and locate job interviews, including for a communications position on the Lever team. Now, she creates promotional materials for Lever, helps manage its pitch Challenges, works with vendors, and has even helped facilitate Berkshire Interns events, like a trip to the ropes course at Ramblewild.
“Growing up here, I wanted to give back as much as I could,” she said. “My family’s here. I knew I wanted to stay here. I’m really excited about the growth we’re seeing in the region, and about how Lever is contributing to that.”
