PRACTICUM REVIEW
Spring 2022: ENES210
What did you do for your practicum?
For my practicum, I took ENES210: Entrepreneurial Opportunity Analysis and Decision-Making in 21st Century Technology Ventures. The main goal of this class, as the title suggests, is to teach students how to think critically when analyzing possible tech venture opportunities and making effective decisions. The term project for this class was to develop your own tech-based startup that uses a unique piece of technology to address and solve a problem. Through weekly activities, we were expected to take class topics, such as pricing and promotional decisions, and apply them to our specific business to further develop our model. The primary skill taught was how to properly research and evaluate market factors in order to take advantage of opportunities for growth and beginning a new (and hopefully profitable) business.
What did you learn from your practicum?
The main takeaway from the practicum for me was more applicable to my major than to public leadership. The term project of planning and developing a startup company was very insightful to me as a business major and someone who wants to start their own business. It was interesting to have this simulated experience of the types of research and considerations that go into starting a business, especially a tech-based company that offers a completely unique product. The information that we collected through our research and weekly activities could genuinely be used to develop a startup after the class ends because it gave a relatively in-depth outline of creating a business plan for a startup company.
How have you grown as a leader, student, and professional?
As a leader, I have grown with my communication skills and being more mindful in how I approach situations. While instinctual decision-making can be useful at times, it is not always appropriate and usually I dive headfirst into things without fully evaluating the issue. That has been a main issue in my communication, as I speak the first thought that enters my mind and respond with that thought rather than taking the time to choose my words carefully. This has helped me as a leader specifically in personal interactions because I am more mindful of other peoples’ emotions and how my words could be misinterpreted, which makes for a more efficient conversation to lead to a common resolution.
As a student, I have grown in my ability to prioritize my assignments and more effectively time manage, but also recognizing when I need to ask for help. In the past, I would procrastinate, feel overwhelmed by everything on my plate, and spread myself too thin trying to make each assignment the number one priority. While I was able to produce the grades that I wanted, it reinforced bad habits of procrastinating and stressing myself out. This semester, as I am more involved with extracurriculars, I have learned to dedicate time throughout my day to get assignments done that usually I would say are “a tomorrow problem” or “I’ll do them later”, which takes the weight off my shoulders later on in the week. I also have learned that I do not need to take on more than I can handle and if I need more time, I’ll ask for more time, where in the past I would suck it up and feel under pressure as a result.
As a professional, I have grown with better networking. Because I am more of an introvert, it is difficult for me to put myself out there and start a conversation with people who I think are interesting or want to know better. While that is still something I am working on, I have gotten better at approaching people and making the first connection. This skill is applicable not only to my personal social life, but also in the professional world because those connections can make a difference in your career. The common theme of my growth as a student, leader, and professional throughout these 2 years in the PL scholars program are based around being a more effective communicator to establish better relationships and protect my own mental health.
The file linked is my final deliverable for an internship I participated in during the Fall 2022 semester. As part of the internship, I was given an assignment from a Brazilian fashion company, Movin, to find sustainable solutions to minimize waste in the clothing production process. I worked in a small team with students from other universities in the United States and Brazil over the course of 6 weeks having weekly meetings with the CEO of the company, which culminated into a final solution that we presented. I chose this as an example of how I have grown as a leader because this project required many of the skills discussed in PL to create a cohesive product. Working entirely online with barriers of language and time were challenges along the way, as well as working with a group of people who I had never met before, but I was proud of our final presentation and seeing the results of our hard work together.
Check it out below!
How can you apply your practicum experience to your life/career moving forward?
Moving forward, what I can apply the most from my practicum experience is the knowledge about the components and considerations that go into starting a business. As someone who would like to own and operate a business at some point in the future, this information will be useful because it also gives an introduction to how time-consuming and demanding the process would be. While I recognize that starting a business is never easy, it was interesting to go through the process of building a business model that took into account elements that I had not previously considered.
How will you incorporate what you learned in PL (this could include your practicum) into your job search?
I plan to incorporate the interpersonal skills that I have learned in PL into my job search. One of my issues when it comes to the job search is being able to effectively present myself and communicate my values and how I can contribute to the mission of whatever organization I am applying for. While I can put together a good resume that gets my foot in the door, I struggle with the interview process. Therefore, my biggest takeaways from PL would be how to articulate myself well, both verbally and in writing, in order to make sure that the people I am speaking to fully understand me and what I stand for. These skills would also be applicable in the networking aspect of the job search in terms of reaching out to potential employers and presenting myself to create those new connections.
UMD and Post-graduation plans
Looking forward to the rest of my time at UMD, I am excited to start taking classes that apply specifically to my major of international business and begin learning about those topics. I plan to live in the Language House, participating in the Spanish cluster, to continue learning the language and ultimately plan on studying abroad for either the spring 2023 semester or during the summer 2023. Becoming completely fluent in Spanish will be useful to my post-graduation plans of moving abroad to either Spain or Colombia and teaching English for a few years. I am not entirely sure what career field I want to pursue, so I plan on using that time to travel and explore before returning to the United States with a fresh perspective and understanding of myself and what career I am drawn towards.