For the second year, the Iowa State University Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship is offering 15 students internship opportunities.

The Kauffman Entrepreneur Internship Program will expose students to all aspects of a beginning business and provide the host companies with students matched to their specific needs.

“These internships provide opportunities for students to be exposed to the challenges and rewards of small business ownership and to have real-life experiential learning,” said Judi Nielsen of the ISU Pappajohn Center. “Each student has a very different experience, and we end up with 15 separate success stories.”

Nielsen said many of the business hosts are Iowa companies who agree to pay two-thirds of the $5,000 student stipend. The remaining third is paid by grant funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.

The ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship handles recruitment of applicants, student time sheets, coordinating faculty mentors and matching students’ skills with the needs of the companies.

The hosts then make the final selection.

Nielsen said the program is a very prestigious one.

“Kauffman interns are tied to organizations all over the United States,” Nielsen said. “Iowa State interns are part of a national entrepreneur internship program.”

Nielsen said students get the opportunity to take their education and apply it to a real-life work experience, and last year’s participants confirmed that.

John Hobson, senior in marketing, was a Kauffman intern at Pefftronics in Ames last summer. He said he learned much more than just marketing-related activities.

“I learned how a business works and specifically that small business employees need to have a knowledge of many different areas, including finance, production, marketing and design,” Hobson said.

“One of the most interesting parts of this internship was watching the company grow and change in the short time that I was there,” he said.

Criteria for the host companies include having fewer than 20 employees or being less than three years old. The company also must be introducing a new product or entering a new market, which makes them entrepreneurial in nature.

“Students are faced with a challenge in a fairly risk-free environment,” Nielsen said.

Last summer, she said, two students were placed with a company in which the two chief partners were the only employees.

“So, for the summer, the students were half of the company,” Nielsen said. “They worked with customers, did research and faced the real challenges of a company that was not yet receiving revenue.”

Hobson agreed.

“I learned that for a small business to succeed you need a variety of people with different skills, working together toward a common-known goal. Without teamwork and without a work force holding different strong points, it is very tough to survive as a small business,” he said.

Melvin Montag was an intern at VisionAire Corporation last summer, a job that he said taught him to think on his feet.

“You need to take risks to grow,” Montag said. “If your company is not willing to take the risk to fill a need, other companies will. Once another company does, it is very difficult to play catch up and prosper. That is the true essence of entrepreneurism.”

Students are required to work a minimum of 400 hours and keep a journal of their experiences.

Nielsen said a luncheon is held in the spring for the interns, business owners and faculty mentors before the internships begin.

Following the internships, the group meets again, and students give a brief presentation about their experiences.

Students prepare written reports about what they learned, which can be part of the process of receiving college credit for their internship.

Nielsen said she hopes students will take a risk and apply for a Kauffman internship by March 13.

Applications are available in all of the college career services, at the ISU Pappajohn Center, 2501 N. Loop Drive, in the ISU Research Park or by calling Nielsen at 296-6532.