Whittier College students Trinity DelaCruz ’26 and Daudi Kusinza ’28 put their classroom learning into practice at cybersecurity company Forescout while gaining new insight into where their careers could take them.
The two Poets participated in Forescout’s ASPIRE internship program. DelaCruz, who graduated in May with a degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing, served as an inside sales intern in Plano, Texas, while Kusinza, a junior majoring in computer science and economics, worked as a business analyst on the customer operations team.
Their experiences exemplify the goals of Whittier Works, the College’s distinctive approach to connecting students’ liberal arts education with hands-on experiences that prepare them for life after graduation.
Forescout CEO Barry Mainz has made developing early-career talent a priority at the company, opening doors for students and graduates as part of a relationship with Whittier that extends beyond internships.
“When I started my career, someone took a chance on me, and that kind of investment can change everything,” he said. “That’s why I believe so strongly in creating opportunities for students to learn, contribute, and discover what they’re capable of. Trinity and Daudi brought curiosity, energy, and a willingness to take on new challenges, and we’re grateful for the contributions they made at Forescout. We value our relationship with Whittier because partnerships like this help students gain real-world experience and realize their potential.”
Forescout had been on DelaCruz’s radar for years after Whittier Senior Lecturer Rik Ichiho first encouraged her to apply as a sophomore.
During her 10 weeks in Plano, Texas, DelaCruz worked with Forescout’s Commercial Sales Team, learning new sales tools and taking on outreach for Black Hat, a cybersecurity conference. She recalls sending more than 14,000 emails and making over 160 calls in a period of about three weeks, securing three meetings with prospective customers and a new registrant for a Forescout luncheon, leads that in the best-case scenario could result in millions of dollars in revenue.
The work pushed DelaCruz outside her comfort zone.
“Cold calling, in particular, was scary at first,” she said. “But it reminded me of my many years playing golf. The more I practiced and the more shots I took, the better I got, and those good shots made the bad ones feel worth it.”
DelaCruz also drew directly on her marketing background at Whittier, developing a five-step email outreach strategy and contemplating how different audiences would respond.
“It was really cool getting to actually apply things I learned in my classes,” she said.
Toward the end of her internship, DelaCruz presented her accomplishments to a panel that included members of Forescout’s executive leadership team and received the company’s “GOAT Award” for Best Presentation.
The experience helped her identify what she wants from her first full-time role.
“Looking back, this internship taught me that I am capable of succeeding even when I step into environments that are completely unfamiliar to me,” she said. “I learned how much I value work that allows me to connect with people, build relationships, and contribute to something meaningful. It reinforced my passion for marketing and gave me a much clearer idea of the areas I'd like to pursue, particularly field marketing and work centered around people, communication, and community.”
Kusinza found his way to Forescout through a different Whittier connection: the College’s job fair, where he met a Forescout representative and learned about the internship opportunity.
As part of Forescout’s customer operations team, he used programs like Excel, Salesforce and Gainsight to organize and analyze data and support the company’s Net Promoter Score process by helping input and manage information.
“One of my biggest takeaways from the internship was learning how important it is to be willing to learn,” he said. “Before the internship, I had never used tools like Salesforce or Gainsight, but I was able to get comfortable with them over the summer.”
At first, making sense of thousands of rows of data across multiple spreadsheets felt daunting, but by the end of the summer, Kusinza felt much more confident analyzing large datasets.
His Whittier coursework gave him a foundation for the experience.
“My computer science and economics coursework at Whittier helped prepare me for this internship in different ways. I found that the internship gave me the opportunity to apply those skills to actual business problems rather than only using them in the classroom.”
The internship revealed a potential path that taps into his areas of interest: technology and business.
“It showed me that I really enjoy being in a role where I can combine the two, and made me more interested in pursuing opportunities involving business analytics, data analytics, and technology after Whittier,” Kusinza said.
Just as importantly, he came away with a better understanding of what it takes to thrive in a professional environment.
“Technical skills are only part of being successful,” he said. “Communication, asking questions, adapting quickly, and understanding the purpose behind the data are just as important.”
For both DelaCruz and Kusinza, the summer offered more than a chance to build professional skills. It gave them an opportunity to test their interests, take on new challenges and gain a clearer sense of what they want to do next.
“The internship gave me a much better understanding of what I'm capable of,” DelaCruz said.
