SF Summer Intern Program: Kick Off Event Re-Cap

For a long time, students participating in summer internships have asked us for ways to meet other students. We know that one of the key goals summer interns have is to meet as many people as they can with similar interests. Passionate about helping interns in every step of their blooming professional journey, we created the SF Summer Intern Program to connect interns like never before.

This past Saturday WayUp kicked off the first event. As a first of its kind for us, the event proved to be a huge success! Over 40 interns and visitors from around the Bay took over our headquarters to watch the Euro Cup, eat their hearts out in pizza, and above all, make valuable connections between the places and people they are interning with in the city.

We’re excited to have had such a success with our first event. Here are some of the insights we took from this weekend:

All Mingling, No Soccer

Being that this was our first event of the summer, we learned a lot about what students are interested in. For one thing, despite the event initially being built around the Euro Cup, it turned into a non-stop “internmingle” (thanks Aki from Path for the word). Despite the lack of rivalry between Czech Republic and Poland, it still surprised us that conversation between students filled the room more than hooligan soccer chants from the game. Chats ranged from problems interns were solving at their office, to TechCrunch news, to local foodie joints.

Big and Small Companies Alike!

We owe a giant thanks to everyone who came out (shout out to Klout for showing up in big numbers). One of the most interesting results of the event was the spectrum of companies who were represented. We knew students at smaller companies who often crave a wider network of connections and opportunities, would be excited by such events. What we didn’t expect was to see as many interns as we did from bigger companies like Google and Zynga who already have large intern classes and robust event schedules — clearly students want to not only meet other interns, but interns from a range of companies.

A Great Time

The ultimate goal of this event was to have fun and it was certainly accomplished! We enjoyed hosting an awesome group of interns and watching new friendships build in front of us. And yes, everyone eventually got into the Euro Cup match! Some rooted and some groaned as Czech Republic took the lead over Poland. No matter the team affiliation, it was easy to see that every intern walked away from our headquarters a winner with fresh connections, new friends with common interests, and a belly full of hot pizza. With events coming up as part of our SF Summer Intern Program, we have a hunch you’ll all be BFFs by the end of the summer!

If you missed out on Saturday, keep your eyes peeled on your inbox for upcoming SF Summer Intern Program events! Here are some pics we snapped. Check out the rest on our Facebook page.