This blog series offers a glimpse of reSET’s summer internship program in entrepreneurship and social enterprise. The series will aim to capture interns’ experiences, both with reSET’s curriculum and the startups that they are working alongside. Our third blogger, Justin Simko, is a rising junior at the University of Hartford.

My name is Justin Simko and I am a student of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hartford. I first came to reSET this past winter after being accepted into their spring semester internship program. At the time, I was looking to get involved with technology startups in the Hartford area. I wanted to better understand how such businesses run, how they receive funding, and most importantly, how they scale. My initial hope in working with the organization was to figure out how to apply my engineering background to business. In particular, I wanted to round out my knowledge with the hands-on experience and insight that can only come from working directly with startups.

During that first semester with reSET, I had the privilege of working with Careerpath Mobile, a higher education technology startup. Given that I am contributing this post to reSET’s blog now, you can see that I decided to stay on at reSET over the summer. I am currently working on a project for Blue Earth Compost in which I have been tasked with designing a system to improve the method of cleaning compost bins. I am also collaborating with ConnectAnd Improv, a company that is devoted to developing human connections in business. I have been creating a database of potential clients for them.

In addition to our work with startups, the summer intern cohort is participating in the reSET Innovation Challenge. The nine of us have been divided into three teams, each of which has been tasked with creating a business to solve a different social or environmental problem in the state of Connecticut. We will pitch our ideas to a panel of judges next month.

reSET has provided me with an environment that supports the exchange of ideas, as well as a network of businesses to learn from and communicate with. After my internship wraps up, I hope to stay connected to the reSET community and to continue applying the entrepreneurial mindset that it has provided me with to all future endeavors.