High School Tech Internship Business Spotlight: Reach Business Solutions

‍Written By: Kaitlin Streator, BB2C Communications and Engagement Coordinator

Nestled at the edge of the Ohio Appalachian foothills, Sugarcreek, Ohio, is known for its ability to transport visitors back to a simpler time with its Swiss alpine architecture, cheese-making heritage, local Amish culture, and the world's largest cuckoo clock. While these attractions are what draw tourists to Sugarcreek, a small software development company is on a mission to keep local high school students grounded in the area after graduation through their High School Technology Internship (HSTI) program.

"Sugarcreek, Ohio, isn't typically seen as a hub for software development, and a lot of tech jobs are remote,” said Clippy Yoder, Partner and CEO of Reach Business Solutions. “This program is a big way for us to show local kids that there's an actual option right here in tiny Sugarcreek—they don't have to move to a bigger city or search for a remote job just to work in software."

Reach Business Solutions’ Interns

From left to right:

Cy Kaufman (Junior - High School), Chase Coblentz (Freshman - College),

Weber Numbers (Sophomore - High School), Mack Herman (Junior - High School)

Yoder and his partner started Reach just a few years ago and have since grown the company to a staff of 16 employees and four HSTI interns. Yoder explained that Reach focuses on creating packaged software solutions that are customizable for clients, spreading development costs rather than requiring a single customer to maintain their entire software stack alone.

Yoder, who also doubles as a high school baseball coach, has always enjoyed working with youth and sees striking parallels between his interns and his athletes.

"The principles you learn in high school sports—discipline, learning how to play a role, and understanding how to be part of a team—are critical in business,” Yoder said. “I love giving kids exposure while they're still in high school. It gives them the opportunity to figure out if this is something they actually want to do for the next 10 or 20 years, rather than trying to figure that out after college or when they're already in a full-time job."

Now in its second year as an HSTI host site, Reach has clear goals to elevate the internship in the coming years.

"Last year was our first year, and it was more open-ended. This year was a lot more structured… by 2028, we'll have an elite internship program. I’m very happy with where we’re at,” Yoder shared. "With high school kids, I want them to still be kids. Software development takes time to get into and learn, so the first part of the summer was training through courses like Codecademy before they transitioned into working on actual projects."

While the interns are still building their foundational skills, Yoder emphasized that they provide meaningful support to the full-time team.

"I went into it with low expectations because learning software and applying it within 9 to 12 weeks is a lot. But they’ve done real work. While it’s not final production-ready code, they build features out to where our senior developers can come in, take what's there, and finish it—rather than having to write it from scratch. That's very, very nice."

The financial and operational backing from the state-supported HSTI initiative has been vital to making that impact feasible for a growing firm.

"The HSTI program gives us the ability to have more interns than we ever could have managed on our own,” Yoder added. “For a company of about 15 people to take on four interns is a massive percentage, and this program made that possible."

So, the next time you’re passing through Amish Country, taking in the sights or grabbing a bite of local cheese, remember that software developers are also helping shape the economic landscape of Sugarcreek—connecting with local students to build a stronger future workforce right at home.

Learn more about the HSTI program at bb2careers.org/internships.