For many college students, the biggest challenge isn’t graduating—it’s transitioning into the professional world.
The job market is oversaturated, opportunities become more difficult to find and the pressure to succeed in today’s world is often paralyzing.
Ricardo Uzcategui, a 2025 graduate of The Honors College at Eduardo J. Padrón Campus is addressing that obstacle by completing an eight-week internship at Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship—a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing entrepreneurial education to students in middle and high school.
The 20-year-old, who hails from Venezuela, recently committed to Vanderbilt University where he will continue studying electrical engineering. He’s one of more than 70 students participating in the Miami Start-Up Ecosystem Internship Program offered by The Idea Center.
“I look forward to how this experience will contribute to my professional growth and lead me to accomplish my future goal of helping underserved communities by improving poor infrastructures and ending energy scarcity,” Uzcategui said.
The internship program, funded by a $500,000 grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, was expanded with a matching $500,000 grant by JPMorgan Chase.
It’s designed to run for two consecutive years and provide 200 internship opportunities for Miami Dade College students. The initiative, whose central focus is to provide hands-on experience and mentorship, connects students with 40 start-ups and small businesses in Miami-Dade County.
Participants are involved in paid internships for eight to 12 weeks, which take place mostly from May to July. The interns are paid $20 an hour.
“We are trying to eliminate the friction between student and employer… and have them connect with the ecosystem,” said Jordan Perez, a student fellow at The Idea Center who helps manage the program by handling data analysis and logistics.
This year, The Idea Center partnered with various organizations in Miami including Emerge Americas, Endeavor Miami and Tech Equity Miami, to place students across different sectors such as business, technology, finance, hospitality and arts.
“The point is to help students take that first step along their careers,” said Jorge Gonzalez, who was recently appointed executive director of The Idea Center. “Companies want to tap into students’ innovative, hungry and energetic nature.”
The internship program is open to all students, regardless of their majors. Applicants must have a minimum 3.0 GPA, complete an application form and after being preselected, complete an interview with the prospect employer.
Students from the cohort have access to professional resources such as resume building, interview training and network through a partnership with Project Basta—a non-profit organization focused on career development and mobility for first generation and minority students—and MDC Works.
Next year, the Miami Start-Up Ecosystem Internship Program has projected an expansion for their technological area, offering students more internship opportunities in that discipline.
“We try to make it better the second time around, so that’s gonna be the shift,” Gonzalez said. “Building on that success, and ideally by next summer having brought on other partners to grow the fund and have even more opportunities for students.”
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