CEEDS Hands-on Experiences

The Bertolon School of Business encourages alls students to complete an internship within their concentration before graduating. Students who intern game the skills, knowledge and self-confidence that will help them succeed when they graduate. Most internships are paid and often lead to future career opportunities.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, stipend are also available for unpaid internships.

“If it wasn’t for my advisors, family, and donors, I wouldn’t be where I am today, shares Anthony Flores ‘22, a graduate from the Bertolon School of Business who received a stipend for his unpaid internship with the David E. Zeller Insurance Agency. He gained confidence as an employee, student, and person throughout his internship.

“His best qualities are his sincerity, his honesty, his intensity and his internal competitive drive to be the best he can be,” David Zeller, his supervisor during his internship, said.

Since 2010, the center has completed many projects, been invited to a plethora of meetings throughout the North Shore, been consulted by reporters and business leaders, and has expanded the number of faculty assisting in the center. The center places students in internships and has hired students for mapping and data collection work. A research assistant works with the center during the academic year in the coordination of projects, the compilation of background research and the collection of data to support the projects.

The goals of the regional research center are realized through:

• Relevant educational programs
• Research: regional and local research is conducted on a variety of scales and for multiple purposes. The center can support efforts and house data critical for research in many areas. This may take many forms, including community-based projects, those that advance civic engagement, grants-awarded research for faculty and graduate students, other funded research, and unfunded academic research.
• Resources: the center provides a much-needed regional resource and base whereby information, data and research can be found and utilized in a variety of ways.
• Useful databases for the region include those pertaining to the census, employment, industry, economic development, demographic, socio-cultural, and historic resources, among others.
• GIS-driven data, including analyses, spatial representation and cartographic visualization
• Faculty research and publications
• Grants office
• Career and internship opportunities

CEEDS serves as a living incubation platform where Salem State students transform ideas into viable ventures through hands-on, mentored engagement with real markets and stakeholders. Drawing on best practices from leading university entrepreneurship centers, CEEDS combined structured ideation, lean experimentation, and disciplined execution with faculty, alumni and community mentors who guide students from problem discovery through validation, prototyping and early commercialization. Student teams work on both student-generated startups and externally sponsored challenges from local businesses, nonprofits and municipalities, allowing them to test ideas in authentic settings while building practical skills in customer discovery, financial modeling, marketing and ethical decision-making.

What distinguishes CEEDS is the integration of incubation with experiential learning and economic development. Projects are managed as real engagements - with defined scopes, milestones, feedback loops, and outcomes - so students experience entrepreneurship as a repeatable process rather than a one-off pitch exercise. CEEDS provides shared resources such as advisory networks, digital tools, workspace, and exposure to funding pathways (grants, competitions, sponsorships, and early-stage capital), while emphasizing sustainability, community impact, and long-term value creation. In doing so, CEEDS not only helps students launch ventures, but also prepares them to think and act entrepreneurially within startups, established organizations, and the broader regional community.

Building on CEEDS’ mission to transform student ideas into real-world ventures, the Viking Business Pitch Competition provides a high-visibility, structured opportunity for Salem State students to test, articulate and validate their business concepts in front of experienced judges from the region’s entrepreneurial and business community. The weeks-long competition invites students from across all majors- business and non-business alike - to refine their concepts, participate in workshops and practice sessions, and deliver compelling 3-5 minute pitches for the chance to win meaningful cash awards that can serve as seed funding for their ventures. A panel of judges selects finalists from a broad field of submissions, with the top prize of $5,000, second and third place awards, and smaller awards for all finalists, fostering confidence, professionalism, and preparedness for post-graduation entrepreneurial journeys.

The Viking Business Pitch Competition acts as both a capstone experience and a catalyst within the CEEDS incubation ecosystem by bridging classroom learning with community engagement and practical feedback. Through this event, students not only gain experience communicating value propositions and competitive differentiation, but also build networks with local business leaders, sponsors and alumni who engage as judges, mentors and supporters. These interactions reflect the best practices of successful university incubators and underscore CEEDS’ broader commitment to equipping student entrepreneurs with the skills, resources and confidence to pursue innovative ventures beyond campus.