Recurly recently partnered with Tridistrict CAPS and their Business & Entrepreneurship program to support students interested in careers in the fields of business and entrepreneurship. This program is a collaboration of three southeast metro-area school districts in Minnesota including South St. Paul Public Schools, Inver Grove Heights Schools, and West St. Paul - Mendota Heights - Eagan Area. 

The collaboration supports a legislative mandate ensuring that all high school seniors graduate better prepared for their next step in life.

Sponsoring a Spark

Recurly’s Senior Director of Customer Operations, Rachel Quick, has spent the last 2 years serving as a mentor for freshmen students at Henry Sibley High School, sharing her educational and workplace experiences. Through this program, she became involved in the Tridistrict CAPS program as a guest speaker for their Business and Entrepreneurship class, which also places students in internships during their Spring semester.

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"TriDistrict CAPS is an immersive, profession-based learning program that exposes students to a wide range of careers and career pathways, and helps them to develop 21st-century career and life skills.  TriDistrict CAPS (Center for Advanced Professional Studies) is part of the CAPS Network--an international network of similar programs whose goal is to reinvent the high school experience.  I would like to thank Rachel and Recurly for their outstanding partnership and collaboration with our programs.  Rachel has been an amazing mentor and an incredible professional role model for her intern, and our program, " said Ben Kusch, Program Coordinator for TriDistrict CAPS, and Lead Designer for TriDistrict Career and College Readiness Initiative

During the first course, Quick saw something special in Henry Sibley High School sophomore Zola Cain.

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“Based on the questions she asked during our lecture session, I could immediately sense a spark in Zola and wanted to provide the same level of mentorship I received when moving into the tech space. While we had over a dozen students applied for Recurly’s internship, Zola immediately stood out from the group with her high level of curiosity, willingness to challenge the status quo, and her thoughtful insights”, said Quick. “I knew from day 1 that I wanted to support her ambition.”

Linda Brunsvold, an instructor with the program had this to say, "The real-world assignments Ms. Quick gave Zola elevated a research assignment to something noteworthy. She would come to our weekly class meetings eager to share the work she was doing for Ms. Quick and Recurly. "

While the internship ended early due to COVID-19, during the 11 weeks Zola was with Recurly, she had the opportunity to work within our Customer organization to learn how Recurly measures customer satisfaction, help prepare for Recurly’s annual customer survey, research and measure revenue recovery, and much more. Zola had this to say about her experience, "Working with Recurly gave me a close look behind the scenes of things you don't really think about, and provided me the information I need to continue learning more and more about what it takes to run a business. Everyone seems to work so well together and cares about providing a quality service for their customers. The time I spent with the company was short, but the things I learned will stick with me."

We are happy to support Zola’s entrepreneurial spirit and are contributing $1,500 to her future educational endeavors. We look forward to supporting curious minds in the coming years.