<span id="docs-internal-guid-cd69de4f-7693-47b1-f326-814d22682618"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Meenu Singh began as a University Innovation Fellow in 2014 as a student of Civil Engineering and Philosophy at the[[File:ND72371.JPG|thumb|ND72371.JPG]] University of Maryland. As a fellow, she learned about innovation, entrepreneurship, and design thinking. After her training, Meenu was able to apply these concepts to her own campus when she found that her peers were unable to make their own ideas come to fruition despite their education. By helping her peers, Meenu was able to find passion in innovation coaching, leading her to her current job today, working as an Innovation Specialist at the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. Following, you will find a how to guide on creating an innovation coaching program much like Meenu’s at the University of Maryland.</span></span>
== Why do we need innovation coachingDo We Need Innovation Coaching? ==
<span id="docs-internal-guid-cd69de4f-7694-8a62-feba-19d5401d36cc"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">In many cases, students may have great ideas but do not know how to make them happen. Because of this lack of empowerment, Meenu Singh helped create a program at the University of Maryland called innovation coaching to help empower students to make their ideas come to life. By showing students how to be more creative and innovative as well as by connecting them to resources and people that can help them in the classroom, innovation coaches encourage all students’ ideas and essentially become a guide or mentor to show other students that they hold the power in their ideas.</span></span>