Overview

Since the establishment of South Plains College (SPC), the focus of the university has been on the betterment of the student. While many aspects of life have changed since 1957, the college's focus has not. Increasing the capacity of the individual to learn, produce, and be enlightened has always been the focus. To be the first community college in the history to participate in a program such as the University Innovation Fellows Program is something that we take pride in. South Plains College has continued to grow by adding satellite campuses including; Reese Technology Center, Plainview Center, and Lubbock Center. Innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) are not a new concept to SPC, but we have yet to have a catalyst to grow this culture of I&E. With its roots firmly planted in the sense of community, South Plains College is centered on changing to suit the needs and opportunities of the community. Grants and contracts are available to students and faculty in order to pursue projects and research. In 2017, the Math and Engineering department was able to open a maker space for all students to use inside the math building. = Vision for I&E on campus. = We want innovation and entrepreneurship to reach the bulk of the student body. We want to engage students who are just coming into SPC for the first time as well as students who have been attending but haven't been involved. There is a major deficiency in the culture of I&E on campus and we hope that by introducing students an understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship, the culture will spread like wildfire. We want our students to not feel limited by their status or their background. We want them to understand that if they have an idea, all they need is the right mindset and the right tools to bring it from idea to fruition. Not all ideas will succeed, but we want our students to be able to learn from their failures and not feel trapped by them. This will allow them to find out what doesn't work when they fail, and then motivate them to keep trying!

As part of this vision In 2024, we also aim to enhance campus safety and sustainability by introducing a new initiative to increase lighting across campus, powered by solar panels. This initiative seeks to improve visibility for students who are on campus at night, whether they are passing through buildings or headed home. By harnessing solar energy, this project not only enhances safety but also underscores our commitment to sustainable practices that benefit both the environment and the community. Our goal is to illuminate pathways and gathering areas to foster a more secure, welcoming, and eco-friendly campus for all SPC students.

Strategy #7:

Tactic #1: Spreading Innovation

We would like to provide a design thinking workshop to students on campus. Those who take the workshop will receive guidance from a student innovation ambassador. In the workshop, we plan to cover broad-to-narrow thinking on ideas, and rapid experiments. We will then ask club members to take what they learned from talking to others to form an idea or series of ideas and narrow them down to one by lastly engaging in rapid experimentation to get ideas from others about their new idea to then move forward and improve upon it.

Tactic #2: Getting Involved

We would like to create a new club focused on the STEM majors. Our primary focus would be to promote mentoring and fellowship among our fellow students. Many students do not know which field of engineering they want to go in and the courses that are required for that field. There are also several universities in the area that require different core courses. Our hope is to educate incoming freshman and give them much need guidance and support.

Tactic #3: new course

A new course targeted toward business startups would be a great addition to the courses offered at South Plains College. Currently, there are not may courses geared toward entrepreneurship and this would be a great first step in moving that direction. We feel that this course would be well received by students who are looking to start heir own business but do not know where to start.

-Danielle Tello

Strategy #6 Stimulating Success in Student Finances and Creativity

Tactic #1: Financial Education Class

Have faculty, volunteer or arrange to teach sections to be covered during the class.

Provide pamphlets with information covered, allowing students to practice at home.

Have students advisors set up to schedule appointments to assist one on one with developing personal budget.

Faculty holds seminar once a semester to ensure all new students have the opportunity.

UIF Change Project Video:

Tactic #2: Bi-Annual Student Hackathon

Hold a bi-annual hackathon for students hosted by the Mathematics and Engineering department using school computer labs. ==
Math and Engineering instructors encourage classes to join or attend.
Computer Science teacher provides sample projects for students to practice on.
Each semester

Tactic #3:New Student Navigation

Have an app developed allowing students to enter building and room number they need, then showing a map corresponding to the location they entered all the way down to schematic of building showing which hall to turn down, etc.

Tactic #4:Blackboard Renovation

Have faculty establish a standardized layout of courses
Enable Blackboard due date notifications across all classes
Give customizability to students
Require format standardization for documents uploaded to be used by students.

Students we spoke to expressed concerns mainly regarding finances, time, and not knowing what to expect coming to school. With these projects we feel the new students will get to know each other more through events and friendly competition, feel more secure being on their own and managing their own budget, and have an easier time locating information for their classes through blackboard, and the physical locations of their classes through an app.

-Kolton Everett and Joshua Davis

Strategy #5: Influence Through Change

Tactic #1: BIRD Electric Scooters

Have BIRD provide scooters for both the Levelland and Reese Campuses
This can help students get to classes who have trouble walking at a fast enough pace or students who have disabilities that would benefit from this transportation aid
Won't have to worry about security for these scooters since they each have a locator device inside of them already

Tactic #2: Q & A Panel

Provide an informative panel for new/returning students that might have any questions about classes, professors, majors, or general info about the campus.
Will provide this panel during orientation to try to capture as many new students and answer as many questions.
Video about this tactic: https://youtu.be/NFdV_J1rh_k

Tactic #3: Water Dispensers

Provide students, faculty and administration accesibility to R.O. water.
Will have dispensers in multiple buildings across campus to fill up water bottles at their leisure
Will provide rehydration for students walking across campus

Tactic #4: Google Map Update

Provide a detailed campus map on Google maps.
Plan to speak with a Google representative and have the capability of searching for building names and provide walking directions.

These projects were the most popular requests from the students during Fall 2018. Our goal is to let these students know through I&E anything is possible if you make it happen. We want to take the approach and actually show that students can make a change and their requests and projects did not fall on deaf ears. -Sarah Smith & Tyler Allen

Strategy #1: Get Students Involved - Keeping the Spirit of "I&E @ SPC" and Help It Grow!

Tactic #1: Open A Makerspace

Our first priority is going to be establishing a place where students can come and learn about I&E, and feel free to share their thoughts and ideas openly. We want these students to learn from each other as well as through hands-on activities. Our first goal should be to find out what students are interested in I&E and then expose them to all the hands-on training provided to us by the UIF. We are meant to share our knowledge and watch what others can do with it! Once we've established a good background of I&E for these students, the next step will be to see what they can do with it. Working with Ronnie Watkins (Dean of Administrative Services) and Ann Epps (Director of Student Life) we will aim to open a room in the Math and Engineering building or Technical Arts Building since they are high traffic areas. Project Leader - Nancy Munoz, Timmy Friesen Projected Completion Date: End of Spring 2017 semester

Tactic #2: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Now that we've created SEARCh and equipped our students interested in I&E with the knowledge that they need, let's get them involved in identifying problems and proposing solutions! Let's find out what issues there are on campus that maybe the innovation fellow candidates have missed and let's see if we can find the best solution to these problems together! We would want to have monthly meetings where students come together, share what they've identified as an issue on campus and give a proposal on how they're going to fix it. We can accomplish a lot more as a team than as individuals. Project Lead - Nancy Munoz, Timmy Friesen Projected Completion Date - This is a process that members of SEARCh and faculty will continually be working on.

Tactic #3:

Just Do It! Let's work together to garner support from staff and faculty to make our ideas a reality. Once we've established issues on campus it's time to come up with the best solutions. We listen to the ideas presented, then in an open discussion we talk about the best possible solutions for each proposed topic. We discuss what needs to be addressed, and everyone works together to bring these ideas to fruition. We have leads on the individual projects and give each other guidance and support throughout each stage. If something fails we take it back to the drawing board and we learn from our mistakes. The most important thing is that we push through as a group and continually gain experience from the tasks that we're trying to accomplish.

Project Lead - Nancy Munoz, Timmy Friesen Projected Completion Date -

This is a process that members of SEARCh and faculty will continually be working on.

Strategy #2: Exposure

Tactic #1: Let's Get it Started in Here!

We need the faculty and administration to understand just how important I&E is to the student body! Let's give our group of innovative students a voice to be heard. We need a way to reach the rest of the student body and engage them so they know that the culture is changing. We need to adjust people's thinking. To do this, we host speakers, but not just any speakers. We need speakers who are going to do more than just give a motivational speech about how great I&E is. We need speakers & events that will promote a culture of change, that when students leave, they feel as though they received something quantifiable and feel like they can take that something and apply it to their daily lives. This is what the student body wants, and as the leaders of this culture change, it is our responsibility to provide it. We also need to create a better platform for students to know what projects the different organizations are doing to improve the college. This project could include building an app, or creating a school-wide Google Calendar Project Lead - SEARCh Group Projected Completion Date - Spring 2017

Strategy #3: Make it sustainable!

Tactic #1: Pass That Baton!

After the above-mentioned steps, this machine that has been created needs to continually churn out people with this new mindset that has been repressed through traditional schooling. In turn, having people leaving with their minds expanded we will constantly need a fresh supply of new minds. Seeing their peers and students get excited, this will spark the next wave of students who want to be a part of this movement. To keep the system from collapsing we propose having a governing factor in the group. Of course, you have the President, but then you also need the President-Elect. Someone who you can train and entrust that once you've left the next semester, they will be able to pick right back up where you left off. To keep the system from crumbling every time leadership has gone, this will be a necessary part of the group. We can do this for many different roles, leader/co-leader, treasurer, etc... Our overall goal here is going to be seeing this group grow from semester to semester, and eventually have a chapter at Tech to encourage recruitment of students from SPC, to help contribute to the I&E ecosystem at Texas Tech and SPC. Projected Completion Date - Spring 2018

Tactic #2: Create SEARCh club "operations manual"

Project Leader - Sarah McLean and current SEARCh members We need to pass on more than just a "title" to the next leaders of Student Entrepreneurs After Real Change. To keep the ball rolling as leadership changes, we want to create a manual of information. This, in theory, will be a binder that is full of everything that new leadership could need. From ideas for fliers to the log-in information for the club email. It will not only include the vital things that need to be transferred, but we are hoping to pack it full of ideas. Ideas that we have dreamed up during design thinking workshops and brainstorming sessions. We don't want these workshops to go to waste. We want to record the ideas that we want to implement so that the next group of leaders can pick up where we left off. Project Leader - Sarah McLean and SEARCh club Projected completion date: Spring 2018

Tactic #3: Target High Schoolers

We need more students to get involved! We think that we need to start on this before students get to South Plains College. Being a community college, we have a lot of students coming in from surrounding towns to "knock out the first two years". If we were to get those students involved in I&E while they are still in high school, what will SPC look like in a few years? There will be a dynamic change. We have the opportunity to reach students NOW instead of waiting until they come to us. We could host a Highschool day at SPC. We could do a few workshops to really catch their attention and get them interested. This could be done by just SEARCh club, or they could team up with other student organizations and make a huge event that will draw more students in. Project Leader - SEARCh Club Projected completion date: Host the first one Spring or Summer of 2018. Annual Event. == Tactic #4: Host Workshops off campus

One way to get more people involved is to reach wider. We want to reach the community around us with Innovation and Entrepreneurship ideas and practices! We want to host workshops in local businesses or community centers and invited EVERYONE. We could make a family workshop that people would want to attend as a fun town activity. We could expose parents to the idea and they could help spread the word. If we give people a positive/fun connotation associated with I&E, they will want to be a part of it. The idea of entrepreneurship can be overwhelming or intimidating to those who don't know much about it. Let's fix that! Let's show the whole community what we are about! Project Leader - SEARCh Club Projected Completion Date: Host the first one Fall 2018. Possible annual event.

Tactic #5: Make Multi-Club Events a Priority

We need the support of the other organizations on campus. SEARCh is currently comprised of mostly Math and Engineering students. We need diversity to keep our ideas from becoming stagnant. We need the mindsets from English to Welding. We need the perspective of other long-standing groups on campus. How can we support each other on our mission to bring students together and get them involved on campus? We need to make Student Life events a priority. When they host an Open House event and invited clubs to set up booths, we should be there. When they hold General Assemblies to hear the comments of the general student population, we should be there. When they want to have clubs collaborate on an event to help raise awareness about campus involvement, we should be there! On a practical level, we plan to include this in the Vision Statement for SEARCh. That they would be an organization that places the high priority on collaborating with other people to accomplish a common goal. After all, networking is a valuable, VALUABLE thing.

Strategy #4: Make Students Business Ready

https://youtu.be/7SZA4NtNVKU

Tactic #1: Develop a Student's Online Presence

For our students to be successful in the modern age, they must have a professional online presence. We will begin holding annual LinkedIn Profile workshops so we can teach incoming freshman the importance of maintaining a strong online presence. In these meetings, we will teach the students about LinkedIn and how it can benefit their careers. After the educational presentation, we will begin assisting students individually with setting up their LinkedIn profile. We will encourage students to begin building their LinkedIn network once their profile is completed. Nathan Clayton (SEARCh Club) Project Completion Date: End of Spring 2018

Tactic #2: Resume Building

The first thing an employer sees from an applicant is typically a resume. Your first impression has to be a lasting one. To promote the importance of a resume, we will utilize the SEARCh Club and Phi Theta Kappa to conduct resume building workshops. For our students to land a job, they must have a professional resume that will get them a foot in the door. We need to build a culture at our school that encourages students to prepare resumes on their first day of college. Nathan Clayton (SEARCh Club) Project Completion Date: Fall 2018

Tactic #3: Internship Application Guidance

Applying to internships is scary. Some students struggle so much with applying for internships that they give up. We don't want any student at SPC to give up. To increase resources available to students, and with the help of the faculty, we will host a day for students to come in for guidance in the process of applying for internships. Whether they just need to know where to look or they are struggling with a certain criteria element in an online application, we want them to have somewhere to turn for help. Nathan Clayton - SEARCh Club Project Completion Date: Fall 2018

Tactic #4: Hosting Start-up Workshops

Nothing beats hands-on experience. Hosting startup workshops are a great resource in building a generation of innovators. These startup workshops allow students to embrace the thought of turning an idea into a project. From the brainstorming phase to the pitch, we want SPC students to have experience in taking a problem into an innovative solution. We have already begun hosting startup workshops at SPC but we need to increase the outreach by promoting diversity of educational background. Nathan Clayton - SEARCh Club Project Completion Date: Ongoing

Tactic #5: Local Entrepreneur Seminars

Our local small business leaders are the best resources when it comes to building a business in the area. We need to hear the ideas and strategies of those that have successfully built a company. We will begin reaching out to local business owners to recruit speakers for an Entrepreneur Seminar. A seminar of this type would be an excellent learning experience for our students. The first step in this process will be to develop a list of contacts for local business owners. Nathan Clayton - SEARCh Club Projected Completion Date: Fall 2018

Project Pitch Spring 2016

SPC and TTU = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q215_OUzDSw

Project Pitch Fall 2016, South Plains College

https://youtu.be/N2zKrTA5Rko

Priorities:South Plains College Student Priorities

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