Brown and White Vol. 122 no. 2

              Vol. 122 No. 2
Friday, December 27, 2011
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Wrestling team
faces Sooners
Page 12
ONLINE
Check online for
breaking news
thebrownandwhite.com
Guest to a
revolution in Egypt
Page 5
LIFESTYLE
Lehigh entrepreneurs discover Silicon Valley
Photo courtesy of Lehigh College of Business and Economics
Undergradaute and graduate students from Lehigh’s College of Business and Economics attended a week-long entrepreneurial training experience in the Silicon Valley region of Northern California the week before Spring semester started.
By SAM ORLAN
On Friday morning, stu­dents registered for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ex­periential Bus trip in Wash­ington, D.C. Departing at 6 a.m. students visited the Dr. King, FDR, Thomas Jeffer­son, Vietnam and Korean war monuments.
As part of the experiential aspect of the trip, students were given prompts and asked to journal their thoughts through­out the experience, explained Ayanna Wilcher, assistant di­rector of diversity and career development, who led the trip.
At lunch, students were divided into small groups and went to one of the Smithsonian museums to debrief on the ex­periences they had on the bus and at the monuments.
According to Chris Holguin, ’13, the bus was just as big a part of the trip as touring the monuments.
“Students were asked to choose an envelope color [upon boarding the bus]: green, yellow, or pink,” Holguin said. “Each envelope contained a certain amount of tickets that were to be used to purchase seating and items on the bus: green, 50, yellow, 25, pink, 15.”
Holguin explained that once the students were on the bus, a first class fare cost 15 tickets, business class cost 10 tickets, and coach cost 5 tickets. Stu­dents received different treat­ment from staff based on where they were seated on the bus. Having tickets enabled students to purchase certain types of food, blankets, drinks, napkins, and the use of the bathroom, Holguin said.
Marcella Dillard, ’12, also found the bus trip to be a good learning experience.
“It was interesting to see friends, couples and even sisters split up because of the amount of money they had,” Dillard said. “Those who were able to afford first class re­ceived special treatment while those who could only afford coach, which was located in the back of the bus, were treated like second class citizens; as if their money wasn’t good enough.”
There was paper and other objects on the seats for the coach riders, whereas the first-class riders were treated attentively by staff and faculty members. As part of the mock experience staff and faculty tended not to respond to the people in the back with the respect that the first-class riders were given.
The staff decided to incor­porate the movie Freedom Rid­ers on the bus trip, which the students agreed helped them focus on the reality of racial and social injustice.
“It made them realize that what they were currently go­ing through on the bus trip was once reality for some,” Dillard said.
“It brought a sense of ap­preciation for those who fought to make things right so that we can do things like ride a bus and be treated equally regard­less of our race, social class or economic standpoint,” she said.
Wilcher worked diligently to organize the trip, ensuring that it revolved around the student participation.
Holguin further described the bus experience: “I chose the green envelope which had the 50 tickets. Once I was seated on the bus I had to pur­chase the first class ticket and sit in the front. A couple of other people did as well, and we immediately got asked for anything we needed, and got some snacks.”
Holguin said that being in first class and seeing his friends in the back of the bus being treated poorly by staff bothered bothered him.
Holguin said at one point he found a way to slip a few friends seated in the back some of his spare tickets while pre­tending to go to the bathroom.
“The faculty members did a great job as actors making us really feel what happened in the times of racism,” Holguin said.
The ticket distribution before the trip made the ex­perience more real and truly helped the participants to un­derstand the feeling of the era.
“The MLK Experiential Bus Trip was the end to a very successful MLK Week,” Hol­guin said. “The bus trip itself was very successful because of
See TRIP Page 2
By MELLISSA COLLINS
This past winter break, more than 60 Lehigh students and faculty traveled to Cali­fornia to participate in a new program called LehighSiliconValley—a unique opportunity of entrepreneurial experiences and valuable networking.
The program, which is offered by the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativ­ity and Innovation, required students to meet with CEOs, investors and other top decision-makers and to come up with solutions to the companies’ real problems.
The students were completely immersed in the center of the entrepreneurial universe, Silicon Valley, which forced them to think differently and creatively to solve the prob­lems with which they were presented.
Todd Watkins, professor of economics and executive director of the Baker Institute, said the strength of the program was its use of “live case studies.”
The live case studies were held during four-hour sessions each morning of the trip, where students met with CEOs to talk about their business and new venture ideas.
In teams of five, the students would join the conversation and talk about strategies with the hope of coming to a consensus about what actions the company should make.
In the afternoons, the students would meet with the company’s investors, who would tell them what they liked and didn’t like about the new ideas.
By the end of the program, the students got a “360-degree look at the companies,” Wat­kins said.
The four companies that participated were Zoosk, the world’s largest social dating com­munity, Teachscape, EndoGastric Solutions, Inc., and Global Fresh Foods.
According to Watkins, there was a Lehigh-based connection to each company, which allowed for not only strong entrepreneurial training, but also great networking.
“The people we met, they just have a to­tally different mindset than inside the class­room,” said Tyler Walton, ’12, who partici­pated in LehighSiliconValley.
Walton was awarded “Most Eager Entre­preneur” at the end of the week for his strong critical-thinking, planning and dedication to solving the problems with which he was faced.
Walton’s success in California reflects his entrepreneurial success at home, in
See BAKER Page 3
D.C. bus trip reflects on King’s struggle
n Over winter break Lehigh stu­dents traveled to California to get hands-on experience learning about four technology companies.