Angelo State Honors Student Named ‘Venture for America Fellow’

Christian Garcia, an Angelo State University senior pursuing a double major in accounting and finance, has been named a 2017 Venture for America (VFA) Fellow by the VFA national entrepreneurship and community enhancement organization.

A San Angelo native and member of the ASU Honors Program, Garcia is one of only about 150 students selected for a fellowship out of more than 2,000 nationwide applicants. As a fellow, he will receive five weeks of entrepreneurship training this summer and then spend two years working for a participating startup company and developing his own business plan. Garcia hopes to join a venture capital and real estate development firm in Detroit or Baltimore as his career goal is to work in community development and economic revitalization.

During his two-year fellowship, Garcia will be exposed to real-life challenges of emerging companies, network with community leaders, entrepreneurs and investors, and develop the necessary skills to succeed in business and become a change agent within struggling communities. Upon completion of his fellowship, he will be connected to a nationwide network of mentors and have opportunities to secure financing to launch his own ventures.

This is just the latest honor for Garcia, who in spring 2016 was selected for a prestigious summer internship at the Goldman Sachs office in Dallas and awarded a $15,000 Goldman Sachs Scholarship for Excellence.

Additionally, Garcia is a member of the ASU Honors Students Association, Student Government Association, Alpha Chi national honor society, and Who’s Who Among Students at American Universities and Colleges. He has presented his research at a National Collegiate Honors Council Conference and ASU Undergraduate Research Symposium, and he was a student advisor for the San Angelo Business Plan Competition.

Venture for America was founded in 2011 for the purpose of placing recent university graduates at startup companies in cities with emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems. VFA partners with more than 150 emerging companies in 17 cities across the U.S. for its fellowship program. More details are available at http://ventureforamerica.org/.