Name: Antoine Gautier

Year: Junior

Major: Economics

CFS Program: Field Studies in Environment, Science, and Sustainability

Employer: The Graide Network

During this Spring Quarter, I am working as a Business Operation and Member Success intern at The Graide Network, a social start-up. The goal of the start-up is to connect K-12 teachers with college students interested in education and/or wanting to become K-12 teachers themselves. By using The Graide Network, teachers have the opportunity to give more assignments to their students. These assignments will then be graded by the college students. These college students thus become “teaching assistant” and get a first experience working with students.

Being an exchange student from France, I thought that it would be an amazing opportunity for me to have a first full-time professional opportunity in the United States. When searching for my internship, it made sense for me to try to work in a start-up. I have always been very interested in entrepreneurship and business institutions and I wanted to work in a company that was willing to give me my own projects and the responsibilities that come with them. So far, that is what I have been able to do at the Graide Network. It is great to be working closely with a very small team and to know that what you are doing is not busy work and will eventually help the company grow or become more efficient and successful.

It has been incredible to have a real insight on the day-to-day activities of a start-up. The projects that I am currently working on are designed to assess our user’s experiences and have helped me to quickly understand the way the company functions. I am very happy to combine this internship with the CFS class “Field Studies in Environment, Science, and Sustainability”. Through the class I hope to be able to think about my internship and the city of Chicago in more sustainable terms. I am really looking forward to the rest of my CFS quarter!