FOCUS: CofC student painters look to summer

Barrack, a junior at left, and Caroway, a freshman, attend the College of Charleston

By Jordan Caroway and Zach Barrack | Young Entrepreneurs Across America, also known as YEAA, has been giving college students the chance to run their own Student Painters businesses since 1987.

Student Painters gives college students the tools and training to successfully run a painting business during the spring and summer. Students get this position through a series of interviews with the hopes of becoming a branch manager, each of whom are responsible for the marketing, sales, hiring and production of their own business. Branch managers who excel in leadership and time management are brought back the following year to become regional managers.

The company offers a variety of services, focusing mainly on exterior painting, pressure washing and deck staining.

Although this experience looks good on a resume and can be financially rewarding, those are not the only two reasons that we decided to embark on this once in a lifetime journey.

Student Painters allows the students and the community to have a mutually beneficial relationship.  The community not only gets to invest in quality work on their homes, but also get the chance to invest in the future business leaders of Charleston, while the students gain credibility, real-world experience, tuition and the knowledge that they have what it takes to achieve success.

Before production season, all painters attend an extensive weekend of paint training provided by Sherwin Williams.  Not only are all the painters professionally trained, but the crews are managed by students who are motivated gain complete satisfaction from all homeowners they work with.

We are also excited at the opportunity to pay our way through college. Taking out loans for college can be very stressful but so can having your parents pay out of pocket. Through this internship, we’re are able to pay for our education — and for all students, that makes the entire thing worth it.

We’re following in the footsteps of our two executives, Patrick Gardner and Ken Hansell. There’s no better coach to learn from than someone who has been in your shoes only a year prior.  These two executives are helping six students in the Tri-county area, as well as two students in the Statesboro, Ga., area to run their businesses this year.  Pat and Ken have dedicated a lot of time to their internship taking turns on the weekends driving to Georgia and back, and it has a positive effect on the whole team’s commitment and motivation.  These are not your average college students, but students who are interested in going above and beyond their peers.

Among the incentives of paying tuition and gaining valuable real world experience, there’s an additional incentive if we can each run a minimum of a $70,000 business — a trip to Jamaica.

Student Painters is a one-of-a-kind internship that requires a lot out.  However, the rewards are incredible.  Gaining real world experience, along with the chance to go to Jamaica, makes Student Painters a highly sought-after internship program, allowing it to be very selective in their hiring process.

If you have exterior painting, pressure-washing or deck-staining needs and would like to invest in the future of Charleston business leaders, don’t hesitate to set up a free, no-obligation estimate.

• Zach Barrack will be running his business in Mount Pleasant and can be reached at 843-901-3356 or by email at zbarrack@gmail.com.
• Jordan Caroway will be running his business in West Ashley and the downtown area. He can be reached at 803-577-2171 or by email at carowayjb@g.cofc.edu.