Sprinternships™

Sprinternships™ are Break Through Tech’s flagship micro-internship program.

Sprinternships™ are a must-have for any company serious about increasing gender equality and diversity in tech. They are a proven, innovative, low-risk way for you to fill your early career and entry-level tech talent pipeline with women from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Host a Sprintern™


All Sprinternships™ are built around several common features:

  • Sprinternships™ are national in reach — employers are matched with students based on their regional recruitment needs
  • Students work in collaborative teams of five peers for three weeks during their academic recess
  • Employers can host Sprinterns™ virtually, in-person, or hybrid
  • Sprinterns™ tackle a real business challenge posed by their host company — see sample challenge projects
  • Employers introduce students to their business, culture, and operations
  • Sprinternships™ can serve as a pipeline for a company’s summer internship or entry-level jobs


Sprinternships™ Challenge Project

Challenge Projects are experiential learning opportunities designed by employers as creative sprints for students. Sprinterns™ are provided with the structure for how to approach the problem, ideate, and design a solution that addresses the challenge. Challenge Projects can be concrete or conceptual in nature, and result in a non-working prototype or broad concept that Sprinterns™ present to employer’s leadership team in a final presentation. Students complete Challenge Projects over the full course of their Sprinternship™ experience. See sample Challenge Projects.


Sprintern™ Partner Responsibilities

  • Identify a Challenge Project for Sprinterns™ – See sample challenge projects
  • Identify supervisor(s) for your Sprintern™ team(s) who will attend a 1 hour Supervisor Orientation Session
  • Host a 1 hour Sprintern™ Student Orientation
  • Provide an inclusive environment, sense of belonging, Challenge Project coaching, and avenues for career exploration during 3 week Sprinternship™. See sample Sprintern™ Student Schedule.

Bring Sprinternships™ to your company

Join over 150 companies who have hosted Sprinterns.

Get Involved


What success looks like to us:
Achieving Greater Gender Equity in Tech

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