SAN ANTONIO – An internship program in San Antonio has connected about 500 interns to dozens of small businesses in San Antonio since it started back in 2016.
The Students + Startups Internship Program was founded in partnership between the San Antonio Area Foundation, 80/20 Foundation, Geekdom and local universities.
“It is an internship program where we pair young talent in San Antonio with small businesses, startups, and nonprofits who are looking to cultivate their talent base and really grow their pipelines in San Antonio,” Katlyn Jones, director of program development at 80/20 foundation said.
Jones said 39 companies and 73 interns are participating this year.
“We also provide a 50% stipend support, so interns receive $6,000. They work a ten-week summer internship. We subsidize 50% of that and sometimes we’ll fully subsidize, if there’s a financial need for the company partner,” Jones said.
Some internship opportunities also include housing.
One of the companies participating is Big Sun Solar, a company that builds solar projects for commercial businesses, nonprofits and utilities throughout Texas.
“We’ve got three really bright interns here this summer. All of them are making real contributions,” Robert Miggins, CEO and co-founder of Big Sun Solar said.
One of those students is Legend Grigsby.
“The program allows you to have a cohort of other individuals who are like minded and they’re a really good support system to be able to fall back on,” Grigsby said.
The Trinity University student is interning at the company for the second time.
“We want the interns to have a real work experience so they can go back to school. They can go back to their long-term interview process with real credit, real work to talk about. And so, that helps them build their resume and their skill set,” Miggins said.