Elliott Holt is an EO Nashville member and CEO of MediCopy Services, Inc., offering simple, secure solutions for healthcare information management. He was originally uncertain about the benefits of having student interns, but his initial experience changed his outlook completely, as he shares here.

As an entrepreneur, the thought of student internships has long represented a double-edged sword. While I want to do the right thing and provide opportunities for students to learn and grow through real-world experience, I worry that the time commitment by my full-time employees to manage the interns might negatively impact our productivity.

At least, that was my stance until three years ago, when I had the opportunity to hire my first interns. EO Nashville teamed up with Vanderbilt University and their football program to offer their players paid internships at our local businesses. Personally, I’m not a sports fan, so that aspect of the program wasn’t a draw for me.