谢伊中心的TechTrek课程仍在继续, embracing the entrepreneurial spirit in a new digital format with help from alums
It was a harbinger of future disruptions: After a jam-packed series of visits to tech giants including Apple, Salesforce, 和谷歌, students on the March 2020 TechTrek West trip had their final scheduled visit at 脸谱网 cancelled due to mounting concerns about the novel coronavirus. 都快一年了, and although the weeklong visits to Silicon Valley that served as a hallmark of TechTrek feel like a thing of the past, TechTrek仍在前进.
From multiple cohorts and twice as many weeks of classes to more intimate Zoom meetings with long-distance CEOs, the entrepreneurial spirit of TechTrek has allowed the course to make the most of its new digital format. 一个体验式学习项目，由 埃德蒙·H. 谢伊小. 创业中心, TechTrek West is a competitively admitted three-credit course that traditionally culminates in a field study trip to San Francisco over spring break.
这些天, TechTrek West students meet virtually each week for two to three online interactive sessions with prominent entrepreneurs and business leaders. 每隔一周, they also meet in-person with their split cohort groups to preserve the small-group, 为基础课程. The split cohorts and virtual meetings have allowed the program to expand dramatically, leaping from 24 students in previous years to 43 students this semester.
课程时长也增加了一倍，从6周增至13周. Rather than focusing on six weeks of preparation and then a series of meetings over Spring Break, the extended format allows students to continuously meet with entrepreneurs throughout the semester and integrate those meetings with the curriculum, 它涵盖了一系列的主题, from venture capital funding to artificial intelligence and social impact.
TechTrek students and Shea Center Associate Director Kelsey Renda (second from left on top row) on a Zoom call
The growth hasn’t just been in terms of size—the virtual format has allowed the meetings to expand beyond the geographic limits of San Francisco to include business leaders across the country. 例如，2. 我与Amity Ventures的两位校友通了三个时区的电话. TechTrek的学生从栗子山登陆, 主席彼得·贝尔，86年, p20从怀俄明州打来电话, 联合创始人/管理合伙人CJ Reim ' 13从加利福尼亚加入. “Zoom gives us way more flexibility to invite people from all over to speak,谢伊中心副主任凯尔西·伦达说, 引用这学期的演讲者名单.
In some ways, the adaptation of TechTrek West has served as an exercise in entrepreneurship itself. “We were ideally suited to pivot to the online environment, because we already have that mentality. It’s a core feature of entrepreneurship we’re trying to instill in students,杰里·凯恩教授在最近的Q&一个在 新冠时代的TechTrek.
谢伊中心波波洛家庭执行董事杰里·道尔87年, p15（最右）和去年的TechTrek West班
The growing class sizes are also an example of a particular entrepreneurship concept in action, 谢伊中心波波洛家庭执行董事杰里·道尔87年补充道, P”15 的问&A“作为一名企业家，你总是在考虑如何扩大规模. 我们一直想扩大这个课程，但我们遇到了挑战.这些挑战, mainly about the logistics of bringing dozens of students across the country and into startup headquarters, 在这个学期的新数字格式中被绕过了吗. Now, rather than bringing the students to the entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurs come to the students.
Many of those entrepreneurs who Zoom into the TechTrek classroom are 太阳城网赌平台 alums, 对他们来说, the virtual visits are both a homecoming and a way to help engage students during the pandemic. A virtual visit “allows us to reach out and get a greater diversity of alumni involved, because it really is this nice way for alumni to give back and interact with students and for students to learn from our best alumni,凯恩说。.
Those alums include many who benefited from 太阳城网赌平台’s strong entrepreneurship culture while they were students. 莱利·苏沃德，18岁, 是谁在2月23日和TechTrek的学生见面的, is a product operations manager at self-driving delivery company Nuro. His start-up experience began while he was still at 太阳城网赌平台, where he founded successful 市场太阳城官网公司Campus Insights 大一的时候. Other alumni speakers from a host of tech and entrepreneurship industries have included, 等, 詹姆斯·洛夫特斯的作品, 移动支付巨头Cash App成为全球生态系统的领导者, 还有14岁的布拉德·克伦, Instawork的运营总监, 酒店工作的按需招聘应用.
WePay CEO 比尔·克莱里科，07年 during his first virtual visit to the TechTrek classroom
另一位校友演讲嘉宾, 比尔·克莱里科，07年, 在线支付服务微支付的首席执行官, has come full circle with TechTrek: His first visit to Silicon Valley was years ago as a TechTrek student. 去年春天，在节目上线后不久，克莱里科 与谢伊中心的学生见面 第一次. 当时, 他提出了建议, “像这样的危机从来都不好玩, 但它们可以为初创企业创造机会.” When Clerico returns to the virtual TechTrek classroom on March 1 for another Zoom meeting with Shea Center students, that entrepreneurial spirit of opportunity will be on full display in the form of the new (and improved) TechTrek West.
还有TechTrek东
TechTrek的其他节目也适应了虚拟格式. 除了春天的TechTrek West, 谢伊中心近年来也提供了三学分 TechTrek东 在秋季学期上课, featuring a field study trip to New York City and multiple day trips to local Boston businesses. 尽管标题是“东方”, virtual visits allowed last semester’s TechTrek东 students to meet with entrepreneurs from as far away as Chicago and the West Coast.
TechTrek波士顿, 谢伊中心的课外活动, TechTrek计划的非学分版本, has sessions open to all graduate and undergraduate students that traditionally involve Friday afternoon visits to Boston-area businesses for Q&高管会议.
This semester, the lines between all of the TechTrek offerings have blurred somewhat. 由于Zoom会议没有大小限制, many of the TechTrek sessions are open to any student (including those not involved in TechTrek), 在标题下 “与企业家一起变焦,” giving all students an opportunity to learn from some of 太阳城网赌平台’s most entrepreneurial alumni.
—雷切尔·伯德，卡罗尔学校新闻