University of Massachusetts Amherst

Testimonials from Students at University of Massachusetts Amherst

Ian McCarthy

I just completed my second summer with YEAA and it has had some of the highest highs and lowest lows that I have experienced so far in my life. I just completed running a $290,000 business while profiting over $30,000. The real world experience I obtained from coaching a team of managers is going to be invaluable in my future career. This internship has pushed me beyond what I thought my potential was. It is the best internship for the student who wants to rely on their own effort for success. You have to be able to handle taking complete ownership of your business. There is no other internship in the world that will give you more freedom and choice. Which means that if you are not person who is willing to take accountability for your actions, then this is the worst internship in the world for you. This internship really teaches you what you are capable of. It takes a lot of grit to keep pushing through the tough parts of the summer, but the managers who have that grit are going to be the winners in this program.

Tyler Lajoie

Running my own branch of Student Painters was an eye opening experience. I developed actual real life skills such as management, sales, communication, adaptability, and accountability. These are skills that all employers look for and now that I can say I've actually gone out and executed these skills by running my own business, I am undoubtedly ahead of 95% of my peers in the job market. I ran a $100,000 business and made $20,000 off of that. The sense of accomplishment at the end of the summer was like no other. I would recommend this internship to absolutely anyone. It is truly incredible what Student Painters can do for you.

Matt Mongiat

I began my time with YEAA as a freshman in the fall at UMass Amherst, and at the end of this past summer have ran a $100,000 business while profiting over $15,000. In running my own business, I have gained invaluable real world experience in sales, marketing, communication, time management, and recruiting that I know will open so many more doors for me when I graduate. Not only did I grow professionally through this internship, but I have become so much more confident as an overall person. I truly believe that there is no better internship program for college students available, but only if you are the right person. YEAA provides a challenging yet extremely rewarding internship opportunity that I would recommend to anyone looking to secure a better future for themselves.

Haley Avila

I completed my internship with YEAA the summer after my sophomore year of college. I ran a $75,000 business and learned more in 7 months than I had in all of my classes combined. The real life experience gained through this internship is invaluable and helped me prove to myself the potential I never even knew I had. I now have skills in marketing, negotiating contracts, managing a team, time management, customer relations, recruiting and much more all while managing
a 22% profit margin. I have grown exponentially as a person and the confidence that this internship has given me will no doubt push me farther than any class I could have taken to try and prepare myself for the real world.

Michael Logrieco

As this summer comes to a close, I can finally say I ran a $75,000 business. Looking back to when my mentor, Aaron Griffin, came into my class describing this internship, this ambition to prove myself swelled inside of me. An internship that allows you to take control of your summer was something that I couldn’t pass up. It was extremely difficult; sacrificing my time, living away from friends and family, and dealing with the ups and downs of running a business, but at the same time, extremely rewarding. Student Painters taught me very valuable skills such as sales, managing and effort that gave me the confidence to take on future challenges in my life.

Christian Pasichny

My experience with Student Painters has taught me more real life work skills than any class I have taken. This internship has changed my life over the past 8 months. Having the opportunity to go out and run my own business has allowed me to develop many skills such as leadership, time management, customer service and work ethic. I am confident that no other internship or summer job I could have taken would have given me more value. Even though the sacrifices I had to make to my time and stress I had to take on were difficult, the experience I had and the
money I made were worth it.

Kevin Margnetti

My experience with Student Painters through 2 years had a serious impact on my life. I don’t view myself as being extremely naturally talented. I struggled throughout the beginning of the internship and my weaknesses became pretty clear. Through powerful mentorship from my executive and a refusal to accept the current reality, I was able to finish in the top 5 in the country in production. When I finished my time with Student Painters, I left a far more confident person with a much higher stress tolerance. Today, I’m a part owner at a real estate development firm, along with 3 other Student Painter alumni. Anyone who knew me in a professional setting before and my time at Student Painters knows that I’m twice the salesman and twice the leader that I was before.

Hamza Rizvancevic

My experience with Student Painters started with entering my name on a sign up sheet in a Political Science class. 10 months later I have had an incredibly memorable experience that taught me a lot about myself and has influenced my future aspirations. After the first interview I knew this internship was something
I was ready to do. I was convinced I would be successful and would be able to overcome any challenges I would face. Three weeks into April, I was ready to quit and close my business. Running my own branch of Student Painters, above all else, has showed me that it is possible, for myself and for almost anyone, to achieve their goals with a strong amount of effort and dedication. I had initially hoped to run an $80,000 branch with an 18% margin - profiting about $14,000. Midway through May after already opening my business, I thought that this goal was unreachable. Ultimately I ran an $85,000 branch and profited close to $16,000; slightly surpassing my initial goal. I do believe that anyone could be successful at the Student Painters internship, if they are willing to put in the required hard work.

Ryan Coulter

It was the first class of college that I received the clip board to sign up for student painters. What drove me to continue with them through the info sessions, interviews, etc. was the amount of experience I was going to be able to gain as a
19 year old who just started college. No matter what job you have in the future, you will need to have the following skills: communication, organization, leadership, people-skills, sales/pitching, customer service, and problem solving. There is no other internship where you will be able to hone in on those skills more than one where you run your OWN business. Of course this is not possible without effort, but if you are willing to work hard in order to get a step of ahead of everyone else getting the same education as you, then this is the internship to do that. With that effort has lead me to run about an $80,000 business and personally profiting $15,000. Along with the skills, the vast amount of alumni and connections you will be able to gain is endless. Whether it’s a business entrepreneur in Chicago or a local engineer, any
fellow student painters will instantly connect with you through the friendly and family-like atmosphere that student painters provides to all of their interns. Freshman or senior, business major or computer science major, A student or C
student; this internship is pure effort and at the end you will have a resume that will leave companies fighting for YOU.

Steven Verras

The experience I received and the values I gained during my time as an intern with Student Painters have already proven useful in my life. Anyone who completes the summer with their painting company intact has learned first-hand that you do not get things handed to you in life; you only get out of it what you put into it. To those who have always wanted an opportunity to test how tough you are and have a platform to achieve something remarkable this internship is for you.

Chris Fonte

Going into this internship was scary at first. I knew that a long road was ahead of me, but I had faith in the program. I saw how much the company was trying to help and I took advantage of that. My mentor was always there to help me and I was able to overcome anything that came my way. The skills that students learn through this experience help in all aspects of life. I feel like I can jump into a new chapter of my life that was previously inaccessible to me. I am very happy that I pushed myself in these past few months and the outcome is far better then I had expected.

Luke Chase

I was a junior at UMass when I heard about YEAA for the first time. As a branch manager I ran a $90,000 business while profiting over $16,000. The experience YEAA gives you of running your own business for the first time is unparalleled to any other internship or class that you can take in college. I’ve learned how to be accountable to not only myself but also my crew and my peers. The opportunity I was fortunate enough to have has given me the real world experience that’s given me a step ahead of most of my peers. Running my own business consisted of going Cold calling door to door, managing my own revenue, collecting and following up on leads to schedule estimates, and hiring my own employees. This internship has given me skills such as management, finance, sales, recruiting and customer relations. The best thing about running your own business is that you control your own destiny. Joining YEAA has definitely been the best decision I’ve made so far in my life and by far the most fun and rewarding. The stories I can tell in any interview I walk into separate me from all other competition.

Kevin Hiselman

In school you can read and hear about what running a business is like but you’ll never know what it’s truly like or how to go about running a business without going out and actually doing it. This internship is that opportunity. It almost sounded too good to be true after I attended an info session. After running a $110,000 business and profiting $20,000 this past summer I can say without a doubt that taking on this
internship has been the best decision I’ve made in my life thus far. This internship allows you to better your communication skills, problem solving abilities, leadership, and so much more, but only if you put in the effort. You earn everything and nothing is given so it’s incredibly rewarding to see hard work translate into visible results. Invest yourself in this internship and you make leaps and bounds in your personal and professional growth.

Richard Paglia

I was a sophomore at Umass Amherst when I heard about the Student Painters internship. I was more than fortunate to be accepted into this program among all the other internships that I applied for because no other internship will offer freshman and sophomore college students the type of leadership and responsibility that Student Painters offer. I thought I’d be lucky to be fetching copies and getting people coffee. Instead I learned how to run my own business and manage my own employees, and made some money in the process. Not to say that this internship wasn’t a lot of work, but it’s the type of thing that you get out of it what you put into it. I can’t think of a different internship that I could have gotten as a 19 year old that would teach me so many life skills that I will use no matter where I end up.

Shervin Sadr

I began YEAA my freshman year at UMass Amherst. As a branch manager I ran a $100,000 business while profiting $25,000. My experience throughout the entire Student Painter process has been incredibly valuable for me, and was a huge step for my life. I was fortunate enough to be gifted with an opportunity to run my own business in my hometown, hire workers, make sales, gain knowledge, and be able to write my own story. The road I had to travel was one with plenty of obstacles every step of the way, which just makes for a more incredible story at the end of it all. I’ve strengthened my resume, experience, and learned more in my one year with YEAA than I have my entire life. I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything, and is something that I would recommend to tenacious students looking for an opportunity to make a massive leap in their lives.

Brendan Logan

I started at YEAA as a freshman at UMass Amherst and ran a $100,000 business while profiting over $25,000. The money was nice, however, the experience was completely invaluable. It was the most challenging, fun, and rewarding thing I’ve ever done. What I particularly like about running my own business while in college is the leg up that it gives me. At the end of the day, I am going to graduate with the same degree as my peers but I will have the real world experience that they do not. I now have gained skills in marketing, finance, management, customer relations, sales, recruiting, and everything else that comes with running a business. I have grown exponentially as a person and have learned to manage my time to the tee, be more confident, and not be afraid of failure. I can now apply all that I have learned to anything that I decide to do with my life.

Jordan Ames

I just completed my first summer with Student Painters. I can honestly say that it was the most memorable summer of my life. Being able to market, sell, and produce over $100,000 in revenue is something that few can say they have done. Without this internship to push me, I would have never realized the potential I had. This program finds outliers and motivates them to reach their potential. One of the biggest things that my executives taught me was to find your own core values and work to achieve greatness in those areas. By using my business as a tool, I was able to raise the money and awareness to build a basketball court in my town to honor a friend of mine who passed away. This project meant a ton to my entire community and was a very positive way to remember an awesome friend. Without Student Painters I would have never been able to make this significance in my town. As I step into an executive position next year, I want to continue to do projects that better the world around me while mentoring young entrepreneurs to find their own purpose to work towards. None of this would have been possible without this organization.