Entrepreneur’s Innovation Opens Doors to Real World Experience for College Students

A Pinellas County entrepreneur has established an internship program for current students of his alma mater at his multifaceted St. Petersburg real estate business. By the end of the three-credit internship, students from Saint Leo University earn the Florida real estate sales associate license in fulfilling their work requirements.

Michael D’Aloia, who is the principal owner and president of RMS Elite Properties LLC of St. Petersburg, created the opportunity exclusively for students at Saint Leo, where he earned his business degree in 1992. The residential campus of the Catholic, nonprofit institution is in fast-growing Pasco County, about four miles east of Interstate 75 (Exit 285). Several students, mainly from the university’s Tapia College of Business, have completed a pilot program. The pilot’s success prompted a summer and fall internship class session for this year, with each session accepting up to six students.

Student veterans at Saint Leo who may want to become entrepreneurs are invited to consider the program, along with business students in traditional majors such as marketing, business administration and economics.

The 120-hour internship program is directed by one of D’Aloia’s executives, Lloyd F. Dreibelbis, whose formal responsibilities at RMS include serving as director of career development. The two RMS executives consider the project a worthwhile outreach activity and a possible pipeline for new talent. RMS operates several lines of business, including residential and commercial real estate sales and leasing, property management, and real estate investment.

In any case, the students gain transferrable business skills, valuable personal knowledge about real estate, and a license along with academic credit.

Tapia College of Business Dean Robyn Parker said this study-and-work opportunity fits with the college’s emphasis of structuring undergraduate education so that students leave with “a degree plus some kind of licensure or certificate and this is a natural extension of those activities.”