29 Jul Recapping the 2022 Launch Fishers High School Fellowship: A Successful Comeback!
Today marks the final day of the 2022 Launch Fishers High School Fellowship. After a two-year hiatus, we were so pleased to successfully bring the program back to the community. With nearly 40 students from Hamilton Southeastern and Fishers High School going into the program, we managed to fulfill its mission of discovering and developing future entrepreneurs once again.
On the first day of the program’s three-day entrepreneurial bootcamp, which ran from Tuesday May 31 to Thursday June 2, students learned how to start their financial life on track with award-winning financial expert Peter Dunn before polishing their first professional resumes. Afterwards, they picked up tips, tricks, and tactics to land any job they desire from one of the first Launch Fishers members, Eric Anderson.
On the second day, students explored how every position, from an intern to a CEO, impacts a company’s culture with the Chief Culture Officer of trueU, Amber Fields. After receiving advice from and networking with alumni of the LFHSF program, they transformed their LinkedIn profiles into top-notch hiring material while being guided by talent acquisition expert Andre Boulais, VP of Customer Success at Entelo.
On the third day, students engaged in mock interviews with one another after studying the plays and strategies entrepreneurs take with former NFL player and Launch Fishers community partner, Brandon Gorin. Before wrapping up bootcamp with Robosource’s Kendra Beutler and her tips on how to maximize their internships, they took a field trip to the Indiana IoT Lab to get a glimpse at what’s new and emerging in the IoT sector.
The day after bootcamp, Friday June 3, students interviewed with 18 companies for summer internship placement:
- AUVSI
- Base Camp Leasing
- City of Fishers Information Technology
- City of Fishers Parks
- Firestone Ride-Rite
- First Internet Bank
- Gideo
- HSEF
- Indiana IoT Lab
- Launch Fishers
- Pierce Aerospace
- VendorJump
- spokenote
- TAOT (The Audio of Things)
- Toolsey
- trueU
- Verista
- Wishoo Interactive Technologies
Thanks to the gracious support from HSEF, we placed over 20 students the following weekend into paid summer internships, including fellows Samaira Lee, Bloem Montalvo, and Jackson Philhower.
Spending her summer at spokenote, Fishers High School sophomore Samaira Lee has been testing the company’s product and presenting her ideas to improve their UX/UI design. Along with product testing, she has conducted extensive market research while helping plan the company’s product launch at local events like this year’s Spark!Fishers.
“I have learned a variety of professional skills through adapting to working with spokenote. Additionally, I have been exposed to multiple aspects of how a business operates, such as production, marketing and sales, and events,” Samaira told us.
And at HSEF, Hamilton Southeastern High School seniors Jackson Philhower and Bloem Montalvo have been sprucing up the foundation’s Tiger Royals Alumni Network throughout their summer. Working together in brainstorming the actions the network can take to grow its influence, the two are its leading forces.
“Interning for HSEF has been a great experience in working on projects for a non-profit that gives back to our schools,” Jackson expressed. “Our boss, Justin Hirnisey, is so knowledgeable and experienced. I have learned so much just from attending his meetings and having him share what he is currently working on,” Bloem added. As they head off to college and begin their professional careers, their participation in the program has them considering meshing their interests, education and writing, with finance and business.
This year’s program was better than we could’ve ever imagined. Providing these students with the opportunity to interact with and be surrounded by entrepreneurs who inspire them has been our pleasure. We can’t wait to do it again with some new and familiar faces next year in 2023!
Written by Monica Rezkalla