Priorities:Elon University Student Priorities
Contents
Leadership Circle Student Priorities
Student Priority #1: Elon University Crowd Fund
Purpose:
CollegeFundFestival is a one day event run by Enactus at Elon University where creators at Elon and in the community get the resources to fund their ideas. The festival is free to the public and students and showcases entrepreneurial projects ranging from Science and Technology, Art, Culture, Education, Social Good, Wellness, Lifestyle or anything in between. The festival is fun for all ages, with all day activities including music, food, and entertainment. At CollegeFundFestival, attendees vote for their favorite projects, give immediate feedback to creators, and can contribute to the project themselves using crowdfunding. Additionally, the crowd decides on projects to get funded; The top entrepreneurs are guaranteed funding based on voting.
Strategies:
- Reach out to various sources on and off campus for funding and support for the event.
- Research other Universities that have a crowdfunding platform already set up.
- Create a platform or use existing platform.
- Advertise and connect with all involved Elon parties to create large event with many supporters.
- Evaluate what could be improved from the event.
- Present proof of concept to school and start to market in Alumni circles.
Student Priority #2: Consult With and Work on Sustainability of Current I&E Organization
Purpose:
Fortunately, Elon has a lot of programs and organizations that encourages students to explore I&E; however, many of these have either died out within the past couple years, have a lack of leadership or have needed a good push in the right direction. As UIF members we seek to build these programs and organizations back up.
Strategies:
- Identify organizations at Elon that work on I&E.
- Evaluate their current state and future sustainability.
- Create a list of ways to increase their impact and sustainability on campus.
- Help them build stronger leadership teams by connecting them with different resources within the university.
- Connect these different organizations with one another to build their recognition on campus.
- Connect these organizations more closely with different resources at the school to improve their impact on campus and ability to sustain students.
- Connect these organizations with different resources outside of the school that might be helpful for them.
- Create a group of presidents and UIF leaders that meets once a semester to discuss the current state of I&E.
Student Priority #3: Create and Market A University Wide Hackathon
Purpose:
Get more students interested in STEM and the opportunities STEM has in terms of transforming the world. To have students and faculty across disciplines interact with eachother and come to a unique idea together.
Strategies:
- Contact the Department Chair of the Computing Sciences Department.
- Talk to and interact with upper level majors in Computer Science.
- Use outlets of the the Innovation House, STEM Living Learning Community, Maker Hub, and Carpenter Lab to promote the event.
- Construct publicity & advertising tactics for event.
- Mass publicize event to student body.
- Host event while also publicizing Elon’s University Innovation Fellows to student body.
- Send thank you cards to speakers to hopefully gain a connection with them and gain support.
- Try and get 100+ student and faculty to come to one of the events.
Student Priority #4: Elon Maker Space Improvements
Purpose:
With the establishment of the Maker Hub in Fall 2015, Elon took the first step towards establishing a dedicated I&E makerspace. However, students still need a space that is effectively staffed, well and reliably equipped, and where they feel comfortable to brainstorm and prototype their ideas.
Strategies:
- Identify what aspects of the Maker Hub are most in need of improvement.
- Work on training every student staff member on the full arsenal of tools and equipment availble in order to streamline students' making process.
- Improve equipment uptime; especially the 3D printers.
- Advertise the Maker Hub by integrating the space with traditional class curriculums.
- Connect the space with other incubators in the area.
Student Priority #5: Elon Innovators Network
Purpose:
One way to encourage others to take their ideas and dreams to the next level is to show them that it has and is being done! This project would seek to shine a light on Elon’s current and past entrepreneurs.
Strategies:
- Contact individual currently in charge of Doherty Center Electronic message board TV.
- Research students involved with I&E on campus.
- Email these students asking for a “profile”.
- Feature students on the board and expand to online.
- Establish an Elon Innovators page on various social media platforms.
- Feature students and alumni working on innovative and entrepreneurial projects.