Swarthmore Future Entrepreneurship Program (SFEP)

About SFEP:

Swarthmore College Career Services has a gathered listing of summer experiences at local start up companies through a partnership with Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Students (seniors and alumni are ineligible) can apply to posted opportunities and interview directly with participating start-up companies. Student will not receive any funding from the start up companies. In order to support the exposure to educational and entrepreneurial opportunities, the College will provide selected students with $5,200 in summer funding support for 10 weeks. All SFEP opportunities will be conducted remotely.

SFEP Student Info sessions: Fri, Feb 11, 2022 (1230-1pm EST)

LIST OF EMPLOYERS & POSITIONS

Student Application Period: FEB 7-28

Student Application Instructions:

Please follow these directions to make sure that you're able to view all SFEP opportunities and apply to the ones you're interested in.

1. Log into Handshake.

2. In the search bar, type in "SFEP" and hit enter for a list of all experiences that are a part of this program. All SFEP experiences will have the title labeled "SFEP: ________" A full list of opportunities is also available; you can also type in the employer name and search for the opportunity that way.

3. Apply to as many opportunities that are of interest to you. You will need a resume to apply. If you haven't had your application materials reviewed, please attend Career Peer Advisor Drop-Ins (M-F 1-430pm) OR email CPA@swarthmore.edu to get your resume reviewed.

4. Please note that Career Services does not participate in the start up companies’ selection processes in any way. The decisions of the start up companies are completely independent of Swarthmore College and do not create an employment relationship between you and the College.

5. All SFEPs will be remote.

Note about funding:

$5,200 is the maximum amount that a student may be awarded for summer funding. Should you accept an SFEP opportunity, you are not allowed to apply for additional funding for this program through the College.

US Citizens/resident alien/daca students:

Please note that students who are United States citizens, Resident Aliens or have current DACA status will not have taxes withheld from the payment (nor will it be reported to the IRS); however, the IRS considers this payment income to the recipient. When filing your tax return, you must report the amount of this payment as income. If you file a FAFSA for financial aid, the payment must also be included as part of your gross income.

International Students:

The regulations regarding federal tax withholding and reporting are different for international students who are classified as non-resident aliens for income tax purposes. This income will be reported to the IRS as income to the recipient. As a result, if you are not a United States citizen, you will need to contact Joseph Cataldi in the Business Office (jcatald1@swarthmore.edu) to learn how you will be affected. Be advised that your funds will not be released until this step has been completed.

Questions:

Career Services (pkim1@swarthmore.edu)

The College cannot offer any tax advice to you relating to this payment. It is recommended, however, that you keep careful records and (since individual tax liability depends on each individual’s circumstances) you should contact a personal tax advisor with any questions or concerns.

Hear from some of your Swarthmore peers about their SFEP experiences below!

"I chose to apply to Astarte Medical because of my interests in public health and business, and I am fortunate to say that I was able to develop in both areas. I not only learned about equitable care within the neonatal ICU and racial disparities in comorbidities, but I also improved my understanding of sales development, product development, and government and private funding sources for small businesses. Even though it was remote, I also learned a lot about how I best work and communicate in business settings, and I received very valuable feedback from my managers as well."

- Sandy Shen '23 | Astarte Medical

"Being a part of a small team allowed me to build relationships with highly motivated and intelligent co-workers across many departments in the company. Doing so, they were able to mentor and trust me with work that made a true impact on the development of the company. At a startup, I wasn’t just treated as another intern — I was treated like a real full-time employee [...] Although I had never considered myself a tech person, this experience opened my eyes to the many opportunities that exist in STEM areas. In the future, I want to continue exploring the intersection of business and technology, preferably by going into data science related fields."

- Ilan Rotberg '24 | SETVI

"While working at CampusESP, I was able to talk to the CEO about how the company had grown over the past few years from a random idea to a team of 30+ employees. I learned the process each customer went through from start to finish, and how customer relationships were maintained once they had finished onboarding. It was interesting to see this process from a broader perspective and also be able to dive deeper into each individual part of the onboarding process. I really enjoyed seeing the effort and hard work that everyone had put into the company, and it gave me a new appreciation for start-ups."

- Erin Kelly '23 | CampusESP

"Working at WealthHub Solutions this summer was a transformational experience. Working in a startup, and getting to be deeply immersed in a large number of business processes was very rewarding, and I feel far more experienced than if I had been focused heavily on a small area of a larger company… [the experience] left me feeling far closer to understanding the skills required to start businesses, in addition to giving me a much clearer vision towards the area of technology that I want to work in: product management and product development."

- Kenneth Barkdoll '24 | WealthHub Solutions

"Working at Yellowdig not only taught me important hard skills such as statistical coding in python, but it also taught me essential business skills that I will be able to take to whatever professional endeavors I am involved in in the future…Although I spent most of my internship working on my data analytics project, I was still encouraged to explore every division at Yellowdig by attending divisionwide meetings every day and connecting individually with many of my coworkers. I am planning on going into consulting in the future and I think that these skills are directly transferable to the work of consulting and many other industries."

- Grace Twitchell '23 | Yellowdig

"I learned some really useful skills that I can use wherever I end up in the future including leadership, applied economic modeling, and entrepreneurship. One of my goals for this opportunity was to assess my comfort with startup culture, and I definitely learned that it is something that interests me. I look forward to further exploring this interest in the future."

- Olivia Shan '22 | Pression LLC

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