During my freshmen year, several entrepreneurship students and I went to Startup Weekend Education in Pittsburgh. Startup Weekend is a program that takes place all across the country, where hundreds of entrepreneurs, developers, and business people get together and make simple ideas come to life. The first night, dozens of entrepreneurs pitched their ideas for startups designed to help children be better educated in the classroom. After all ideas were pitched, the top 10 highest voted pitches were chosen for further development. Out of the 12 pitches given, four of them were presented by Grove City College students. Each participant was paired up with a team and worked on the idea throughout the weekend. On the last day, our team had a Minimal Viable Product to present to the judges.
As a freshman in college, I was extremely nervous. There were graduate students, business people, professional educators, and people much older and wiser than me. However, while I was definitely apprehensive at the beginning of the weekend, I left feeling more confident than ever and felt better prepared to tackle the business world. I found that I was able to converse with graduate students and business people about valid ideas which helped me develop a strong understanding of business dialect. It was an amazing experience to be able to test out my education in the real world. I found that that experience was the same for many of my classmates, some of whom led teams and presented. One team of entirely Grove City students even placed in the top three!
I was extremely thankful to go to a school that pushed me and gave me the opportunity to participate in a weekend that I will not forget. Without my classes and professors, I would have never been able to add any insightful information to my team. A year and a half later, I’m seeing how my education is truly paying off!
