Spark SIP connects aspiring high school kids in the Greater Seattle area to internships with small companies, universities and enthusiastic coaches. This year I joined this program as both an advisor. I am gratified to see several entrepreneurs step up to sponsor projects including Sensoria, AppSheet, 9-mile labs, 6crickets, and Quantyzd. The season has started very well – we received nearly 50 applicants.
The applicants coming from the high schools in Redmond, Bellevue, Mercer Island, and Seattle are passionate, driven, and motivated to learn from real world. All of them had to write an essay answering 4 questions about their interest, preparation, strength, and weakness. Besides their demanding high school work load these students had reviewed the projects, prepared essays, got parental consent, and obtained at least two letters of recommendations to apply. In many ways this application process prepares them for their next big step – applying for colleges. I was fortunate to read the letters and appreciate their passion.
Our projects had variety coming from small business to startup tech companies to academic research. There were both individual and team oriented projects. In the coming weeks, we will work with the sponsors to complete a matching process to sign-up the students with respective opportunities.
I wish the best for the high school students who had applied. And we are thankful to the project sponsors.
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