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Mike Cook Web Development Intern Stanford University

Mike first learned about Start Up in January 2002 when he enrolled in an Urban Policy seminar at Stanford. Students in this service-learning class complete an internship in East Palo Alto in addition to their regular course work. Mike had some experience in web design, and was excited by the work Start Up was doing in local economic development, so he chose to join the Start Up team and work on the Web site redesign project.

"My internship with Start Up has been very rewarding," Mike said. "I was really impressed by how much thought Start Up had put into my internship, which made it easy for me to hit the ground running and have an impact right away." Mike's internship lasted from January-April 2002, and during this time he helped to update the existing website and generate new content as well.

In addition to his work on the website project, Mike said he learned a lot about nonprofits and about entrepreneurship. "It was really exciting to get involved with an organization like Start Up, and to see first-hand the impact that Start Up has in East Palo Alto. I have a much better idea now of what it takes to run a successful nonprofit, and what it takes to start a for-profit business."

Start Up was founded by six students from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, but Mike observed that the University-Community partnership is so successful because it is mutually beneficial. "I've learned so much from my internship at Start Up that I could not have learned in the classroom. As someone who has studied urban renewal and economic development theory, it was nice to finally see these processes in action."