The Fé Foundation is hosting the annual "Futuros Empresarios"/ Future Entrepreneurs (FE) Program for rising juniors and seniors in local Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton high schools. It is a community initiative started by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of the Lehigh Valley.
The traditional FE Program is a two-part 5-week summer program. It includes a one-week residential experience at Northampton Community College (NCC). NCC and Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC) work with participants to teach life and academic skills, career development education, and entrepreneurship/business training. Upon concluding the educational and residential portion of the program, students are partnered with local businesses/organizations for internships where mentors share actual business experiences. Upon completing the internship, the students will receive their stipend at the graduation ceremony.
Other benefits include participation in the Fé Foundation's SAT Prep and a $100 textbook scholarship for FE graduates to their college or university of their choosing (limited to 10 students).
The FE Program seeks 10th and 11th-grade high school students, Latino students (though all ethnicities will be considered), students who are interested in the five-week summer training and internship with local businesses and organizations, and residents of the Lehigh Valley.
There will be a new live automated application system, with applications opening in February 2023, and due at the end of March 2023. Interviews will occur in June 2023. Applications can be found here.
For any questions about the application process, camp experience, or interview experience, please reach out to Forum Patel at forumpatel1604@gmail.com. She is a high-school senior who has completed the FE Program in 2022, and won 2nd Place in the Student Pitch Competition, and is now interning with the NCC Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Check out her LinkedIn post about the FE Program here!
Testimonials
Katrina Coronado
Katrina is a 12th grader at Wilson Area High School. She is interested in studying neuroscience in college. She liked hanging out with the other camp participants during the downtime in the dorms. She was surprised by how much freedom students had and how the entire experience was so much fun! She won 2nd Place in the Student Pitch Competition with her group: Blind Aid. Being in a group really taught her how each person plays a part and can strive in one aspect of the project and maybe not so much in another. She interned at Easton’s City Hall under the City Administrator. She learned a lot about the government in Easton and the different departments and how they all function to keep the city moving.
Isabella Salicetti
Isabella is a 12th grader at Freedom High School. She is interested in studying environmental science. Her favorite part was learning about the process of starting a business and making amazing friends. Her group PorchSafe won the business pitch competition and participating in it taught her how to take on leadership and how to apply time management skills learned in the program. She interned at the Nurture Nature Center and learned how valuable advocating for herself is and the broadness of the environmental science field.
Ryan Sajwan
Ryan is an 11th grader at Lehigh Valley Academy. As of now, he is interested in media production. His favorite part of the camp was being able to develop his public speaking skills. The variety of backgrounds that his peers from the camp came from surprised him. Ryan and his "PorchSafe" team won 1st Place in the Student Pitch Competition, and further went on to present at One Million Cups at the CIE. Being in a group taught him the variety of opinions a group brings to build a concept. He interned at AmericaVen, where he got to learn basic event planning and building skills as well as how to control a live stream.
Silas Taylor
Silas is a 12th grader at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts. As of now, he is interested in studying finance in college. What he liked the most about this experience was being able to have friends and other individuals with different mindsets, coming as one team, and forming a business idea. Unfortunately, he didn’t win the student pitch presentation, but what he took away from this experience is that you have to have different strengths within a team and it really helped him see what it's like being part of a team. He interned at the Lehigh Valley Active Life which is a senior retirement center. He learned how to look at the findings from a nonprofit and be able to see if they were under budget or over budget and a lot of financial struggles they have as well.
