Google staff member Evan is a graduate of Southwest High School and participated in the second class of STEP-UP Achieve interns in 2005, the summer after his senior year. He worked on the payroll team at GMAC- RFC, and says he applied to STEP-UP Achieve because he was interested in the opportunities the program offered and didn’t have a post-graduation job lined up yet.  
“The people I worked with at GMAC-RFC were incredibly friendly,” remembers Evan.  “There were lots of opportunities to interact with many different people, especially given my relative lack of experience in the working world. I remember one of the cooler things was printing checks and packing them into Fed Ex boxes to be shipped all over the world.”

Evan went on to graduate from Carleton College with a degree in political science, and he has worked on several political campaigns. Today Evan works for the technology giant Google in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he serves on the company’s elections and issue advocacy team.  “I work with insanely smart people who really want to make an impact,” Evan says. 

Evan’s first summer job with STEP-UP Achieve helped get him to where he is today.  “I always knew that I had to be professional.  But learning by seeing and doing that summer made a tremendous impact.  I carry that with me every day.”