5A - Identifying Local Opportunities

1.     Gainesville Regional Airport reaches new heights with passenger record

a.     https://www.alligator.org/news/gainesville-regional-airport-reaches-new-heights-with-passenger-record/article_32097908-413e-11ea-8d1e-63fe0a934142.html

b.     Within the last year, there has been an almost 20% uptick in passengers that utilized the Gainesville airport. With this increased revenue, those in charge of the layout of the airport are trying to best optimize how support the projected influx of passengers in the coming years. Managers are looking to solve for the issues that may arise as the numbers do as they begin to build a new terminal. 

c.     With the rapidly increasing number of Gainesville airport users in the last few years, sustaining the amount of demand will be a challenge as it will take, at best, two years for an additional terminal to come to completion. 

d.     This problem is directed towards the managers of the Gainesville airport. 

2.     Ranking schools doesn’t close achievement gap in Alachua County, experts say

a.     https://www.alligator.org/news/ranking-schools-doesn-t-close-achievement-gap-in-alachua-county/article_b3e65070-3e7f-11ea-85b4-9b1663b4adc5.html

b.     About 21 years ago, Florida enacted a letter-grade ranking system that dictates the amount of money that schools can receive, with the labels based upon students’ standardized test results. Within Alachua county, there is now an evident gap amongst the elementary schools and their labeling. Much of the foundational discrepancies can be seen in the economic and demographic make up of each side of the supposed scale. 

c.     The problem results from the economic benefits given to A or A+ schools that are unproportionable to that of a D-ranked school, making it difficult to enact real change initiatives to move a school’s rank higher. Additionally, with certain school’s taking in more of non-native English-speaking students or students with an economic disadvantaged background, it poses additional challenges in order to see student’s test scores rise with these compounded factors. 

d.     This problem is directed at the School Boards, as they are measured based upon their student’s results and the initiatives they attempt to produce in order to help them learn, no matter the original score. 

3.     County commission may install cameras on I-75 to prevent speeding

a.     https://www.alligator.org/news/county-commission-may-install-cameras-on-i--to-prevent/article_60ca8a1c-3940-11ea-9518-f75f01e96b1d.html

b.     While there has been concern over the amount of speeding that has been occurring in our area of I-75, there is no definitive way on how to solve for it, as there are certain Florida laws that block possible solutions. Ultimately, one of the potential solutions has provided a lot of backlash, imputing traffic scanners that report speeding to the insurance company. 

c.     There is an increase in speeding on I-75 that causes safety concerns. 

d.     The issue of speeding affects drivers, as those on the road are most immediately impacted, whether through policy solutions or while actually driving. 

4.     UF campus manholes past due for repairs

a.     https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-campus-manholes-past-due-for-repairs/article_946fcaa6-3ccb-11ea-9bf4-c378dbe14739.html

b.     The vented manhole covers that seem an ironic staple of the UF campus were actually meant to be a temporary solution from about six years ago. Since then, there has been multiple health and safety incidents/issues regarding the steam and temperature that the metal itself can rise to. While this has remained an ongoing issue by campus maintenance, there has been no proposed solution at this time. 

c.     While there has been the claim to fix the manhole covers for some time, there has been no upholding or movement on that promise. 

d.     The health and safety issues that arise from this issue being unsolved affects all those who come onto the UF campus because no one knows when these freak incidents will truly occur. 

5.     Students, professors unfamiliar with sexual assault prevention program

a.     https://www.alligator.org/news/students-professors-unfamiliar-with-sexual-assault-prevention-program/article_8da8973c-38f9-11ea-82fc-67babd048e96.html

b.     While there was a study stating that sexual “misconduct” has been on the rise at UF since 2015, the campus and President Fuchs has been attempting to ending sexual assault entirely. However, some of the initiatives in place are not well-known or thought highly of by those around campus as productive. 

c.     While there has been growing instances of sexual misconduct at UF since 2015, those actions taken to raise awareness or prevent sexual assault have not been viewed as helpful or impactful. 

d.     While this issue affects the perception of the college as a whole, I would argue that those most specifically impacted by this problem are those who would have needed intervention during a specifically charged situation and there was not any via the initiatives mentioned. 

4A - Forming an Opportunity Belief

1.     My Beginning 

a.     Specific to the Heavener Business School, as companies come in for Heavener Career Week, they are simply provided slotted times, and some students miss out on opportunities to hear from or speak with those recruiters if they do not show up in time for that particular session on that particular day.

2.     My Belief

a.     This need is not met in any official Heavener policy. 

b.     The need is more so aligned with the student than the recruiter of a company. Where a student has to talk to multiple companies in order to have the statistical chance of making it through to that dream internship/job, a recruiter really just needs one good hire to fill that position—and it may not even be found at UF!

c.     From my experience at Heavener for the past year and a half, that need has always been existent, but I am unsure of the prevalence before coming to campus. 

d.     The only way this need is fulfilled is if a student is able to have the secondhand interaction of information with someone who was able to make it to the company’s live session. At this point, I would speculate that I am ~ 70% confident an opportunity related to this need exists. 

3.     Prototypical Consumer 

a.     Person 1

             i.     The first person that I interviewed is my roommate, who transferred into Heavener from being a computer science major last year. In her opinion, there is a more personable and tangible connection that comes from listening and working with recruiters in person. Even if she was to miss the session for the semester, that lack of information acts as a motivator to reach out and make those face-to-face connections that can be somewhat lacking in the workplace as the world revolves more and more around technology. Making the effort to get that one-on-one time with a company is more important than just absorbing whatever they came in to say. 

1.     From my roommate’s new perspective of entering into Heavener, I can see how the value of the in-person interactions sound beneficial, especially with the pressure to gain those internships.  

b.     Person 2

             i.     Secondly, I asked one of the freshman students I mentor about the possible adjustment to Heavener Career Week. To her, the need for internships and working to network with companies is secondary to getting involved within the college. First, there must be experiences to build up the resume before one can turn it over for a company’s application process. In her eyes, she is not even sure what companies would align with her interests and goals in life, indicating the need for more research before going to listen to these companies, let alone listen to them. 

1.     I think the student population that would best be targeted/served by this opportunity is the upperclassmen who are ready and looking for a position with a company. Adjusting to whom this platform best serves allows to properly evaluate this opportunity.

c.     Person 3

             i.     The final person that I asked was a heavily involved friend of mine who was looking for an internship this past fall/spring Career Week. She saw it as a great opportunity to take advantage of, especially as she has certain elective classes that are mandatory attendance, so she was unable to attend key events that she was hoping to learn more about with the specific companies. While missing some events, she was able to go out of her way to meet them at larger events she could attend in order to maximize her time with more companies. She also agreed that the viewership was important on the student half of the equation; however, flipping the coin to consider how this may also benefit the recruiters who come to interact with more students, there could be an electric sign-in portal in order for them to know of those still looking for more information due to certain circumstances like not attending a live session. This, in turn, provides them with more data, something HR and recruiters are always looking to utilize with universities. 

1.     Expanding beyond the problem to look at who else may potentially be affected by the issuance of this platform was interesting to consider. The idea of maximizing one’s time with having all companies within a set area rather than over a period of hours/days sounds appealing to those looking to stay efficient with their company search. 

4.     Summary

a.     Overall, I had an interesting perspective shift each time I spoke with someone new. When it comes to the opportunity belief, I am still passionate that this idea could be helpful; however, it must be marketing and designed in the right way in order to work for all sorts of different students’ situations across Heavener. I still believe that I could use my original opportunity, but it would have to morph in order to fit and properly serve the needs of the students. After gaining some feedback, this new design of the opportunity would be received much better than before, demonstrating that entrepreneurs must be receptive to understanding their target audience better and not discounting their opinion since it is their issue as well. 

3A- My Entrepreneurship Story

Some of my first and long-lasting exposure to entrepreneurship has been through the efforts of my mom. For context, my family as a whole has moved a handful of times throughout my life, and each time, my younger sister and I always worked to adjust to a new school environment. My mom used to stay at home with us when we were younger; however, once my family moved after my second-grade year to North Carolina, the independence and responsibility that my sister and I felt having to adapt made us grow up quite a bit. 

Seeing the shift in attitudes and looking to balance her kids’ new independence with being able to support us when need be, my mom began to work closely with our new school in order to create a role for herself. School policy was to enforce the notion of uniforms, so the slight individuality that each student brought to school had to come from our accessories, even if they had to usually be our school colors as well. Within the first year of being in this new school, she created a school store, selling navy blue and evergreen green shoelaces, bows, pins, stickers, hair ties, and anything else the kids could think up that was within the guidelines of the uniform policy. 

Then, my second year at this school, my mom decided to hand off the school store to the PTA, wanting to work more directly with students and the content she saw my sister and I come home with every day. It was through this desire that she was able to create a tutoring-like support service within the school, working with those that were struggling with math and/or reading, particularly if they were also enrolled within E.S.L. as well. Combining the skill in which she taught both her children along with the motherly instinct to provide the right balance of support and guidance, both she and her students were able to thrive, seeing strong results over the remainder of our time within North Carolina. 

Now, after two family moves later, my mom is now a teacher in my old school district working with standard seventh grade English students. Her passion for people, and especially children, has allowed her to build up from an entrepreneur to now being an innovator within a traditional school setting. Each time I call to check in on her, she always has a new statistic that demonstrates her student’s improvement and understanding. She has been awarded “Rookie of the Year” for her school and many of her new teaching mechanisms have been adopted by others within the school and district. I am immensely proud to have watched her utilize her gift and passions to better others. 

As to why I enrolled in ENT, I love the electives in the Business School and wanted to explore all my options. I have heard great things about it and wanted to be able to have the experience of taking ENT 3003. Beyond that, it is a good pairing with Finance.  

2A - Bug List

Part ½ of 2A:

1.     The Starbucks’ line at Lib West is so crowded after ordering and waiting for your drink. 

a.     This is due to the already crammed space where they added chairs/stools. 

2.     The customer service line for McGraw-Hill was laced with static and the crew member was muffled. 

a.     This may be due to poor cell service of the call center’s location. 

3.     The traffic on Lake Mary Blvd back home is always extremely backed up during both lunch and afternoon rush hours. 

a.     The traffic is most likely caused by the uptick in population/stores in the area along with the massive I-4 construction overhaul. 

4.     The stoplights along 13^th street and University Ave can sometimes take a long time to turn over for those looking to cross the street. 

a.     While there is the Norman tunnel, UF has not implemented this anywhere else probably because most of the land on the other side of campus is not UF owned. 

5.     Within the Gainesville area, there are more local stores/restaurants closing down.

a.     This comes with the trend that the city is modernizing and gaining more chain branch stores/restaurants.  

6.     The A/C in my apartment is very temperamental when it comes to adjusting with the weather outside, if its very cold out it will lower our preset without us doing it!

a.     This may be due to the fact that this is an A/C within an apartment complex and has to reduce the difference in energy usage by a certain amount when it is above the desired threshold. 

7.     While somewhat cliché, the foot traffic for Turlington Plaza during the middle of the day between classes can be very heavy. 

a.     There is no outline of where to walk or guidelines for bikers; everyone moves based on available space. 

8.     At Pascal’s there is more tables than there are available outlets, making it difficult to work in the same place for more than a few hours on end.

a.     The house in which was turned into Pascal’s did not have electrical renovations in order to accommodate guests with additional outlets. 

9.     Sometimes, when driving at night in Gainesville, I cannot see those walkers that are crossing the street. 

a.     College students do not always follow the designated crosswalks or directions of them. 

10.  Although Canvas has the “To-Do” list for assignments, it will not remind you when assignments are closing via notifications. 

a.     That feature that I wish they had may not be part of the software for the app. 

11.  Sometimes when technical issues happen on UF Wi-Fi, they are at late at night when no one can be reached since it is not during regular hours. 

a.     This is due to there not being a 24-hour staff or prerecorded help when calling or coming in. 

12.  Although Lib West is open 24-hours, I much prefer to see Marston open longer out of location convenience, both weekly and during the weekends. 

a.     The maintenance of both libraries for longer hours may not be conducive to the University’s budget. 

13.  During HCW, I could not attend all the company lectures I was hoping to due to a conflict with in-person classes I had to attend.

a.     These presentations are not recorded and posted anywhere for students because some of the rooms these companies are in do not have that capability. 

14.  When driving between Gainesville and back home at night, there are hardly any lights on the road as I cut through the national forests like Ocala’s. 

a.     There is not enough traffic through that area at night to warrant extra budgeting in order to put lights on that strip of road. 

15.  There are only two prominent gator gear shops on campus (the bookstore & by the stadium), both smack in the middle of campus rather than spread out within the rest of campus. 

a.     They may not plan to add any additional stores due to the stores just off campus on University Ave. 

16.  Heavener/ Warrington does not have a swag store of its own yet, but we do have may clubs and organizations with gear for their members. 

a.     Based on the layout of the building, there is no place to put in a swag store or to promote Heavener gear. 

17.  Study rooms within Heavener or Marston are extremely competitive to get into once the semester gets underway. 

a.     This is due to there being a very limited capacity in both locations. 

18.  Resetting one’s Gatorlink password every year can become tedious and tend to lock someone out of certain aspects of their account until they resave their new password. 

a.     Gatorlink resets every year for security reasons for each student’s information. 

19.  The quantity of ingredients provided at the Chipotle in Gainesville at is vastly smaller than back home’s Chipotle. 

a.     Because of the number of students that come through each day, they have to limit the amount in which they use per customer. 

20.  Within Gainesville, there seems to be these massive wind tunnels every time it gets cold. 

a.     Based on how the buildings are set up, there seems to be these avenues that create them. 

Part 3 of 2A:

Ultimately, through this exercise, I realized how much I overlook my everyday annoyances. While there are certain misgivings that I have about places or objects, there has been a natural inclination to simply adjust based on those obstacles rather than working on fixing them so there are no more bumps in the roads. It seems simpler in the everyday sense to learn how to avoid time waiting with some of these annoyances rather than put in time to solve this problem and never have to worry about it again. To me, it seems like a cost/benefit analysis that many of us ignore and just sidestep towards the convenient option. 

Testing

Test 123