What are programs I can take over the summer to increase my knowledge in business and/or entrepreneurship?

Vicente,

First off great question. Well written and thought out question.

I'll share some of my personal experiences over the summer after high school and during college.

My senior year in high school, I was running a lawn care company. Naturally, into the summer I worked as hard as I could to earn money for college. This experience was the first taste of entrepreneurship -- and I loved it.

The summer after my freshman year was a bust. I didn't do the research that I should have and ended up with one contract to paint a house. I realized that painting wasn't in my future.

The summer after my sophomore year was a little more planned. The Kauffman Foundation had an internship program with entrepreneurs that needed help with their small businesses. This proved to be a good experience. Although, I wish I would have put more energy and effort into that experience. My encouragement for those types of opportunities is to give it your all. I'm unsure if the Kauffman Foundation has similar programs, since that was a little over a decade ago.

The summer after my junior year propelled me into my professional career as an entrepreneur. I started a company called 3GUPLOAD.COM with a good friend. He was a developer and I was the business-side of the equation. My encouragement based on that experience was to definitely build relationships over the course of your college years. We grew the business to 40 employees and $8 million in revenue when we sold it 3 years later. I'd encourage you to get your feet wet and start something. I believe that actually taking the entrepreneurial journey is going to be a lot more impactful than a program.

Hopefully, these examples give you insight into what I did and what may work for you. Feel free to follow-up with any other questions in the comment section.

The best thing is to try and start your own business! You will learn the most buy doing vs. just reading. Find your passion, and turn it into a business. Then, your work will always be fun!

Hopefully lots of other folks will chime in here with direct answers to your question. But one thing I want to point out is that many typical summer jobs can help you build long-term business skills. Selling hardware at Best Buy? That's sales. Every entrepreneur needs sales skills. Working the counter at the Gap? You're in customer service. A camp counselor? You're building leadership skills.

You can learn and earn at the same time.

Awesome question, now a days most schools offer some type of Entrepreneur track or curriculum you try looking into that or try http://www.internships.com/ which is a webste for internships and you can filter for your immediate area, and your area of interest.

Once you've identified what field your interested in you should look for opportunities to intern with a local company in that field. You will gain additional insight and knowledge into that industry above what you may learn in the classroom. I would suggest you augment your classroom experiences with in intern experience.