It’s no secret that students can often feel compelled to pursue “traditional” careers as doctors, lawyers or engineers. However, Northwood’s Entrepreneurship Club aims to challenge these conventions by destigmatizing the field of business and fostering an entrepreneurial spirit among students.
Previously named “Start-Ups Club,” Entrepreneurship Club rebranded this school year under new co-presidents junior Ellen Wang and senior Siddharth Yerapotini. Their goal is to make entrepreneurship less intimidating for students and encourage an authentic approach to business by providing students with the resources to develop their ideas.
“We provide consistent opportunities for students to learn about the business world through weekly speaker series with seasoned professionals who have been through the grueling failures and rejuvenating successes of the startup process,” Yerapotini said. “Promoting entrepreneurship at Northwood is so important because we aspire to empower our student population to chase their dreams through the avenue of business to build our next generation of innovators.”
The club has hosted a guest speaker every Monday since the beginning of the school year through connections with the Orange County Entrepreneurship Community, a group of local business executives.
Notable speakers include former Disney principal architect turned CEO and founder Richard Fleming, Irvine Valley College entrepreneurship professor Jeff Greenberg and Oceanside Glasstile Company president Vincent Moriso. These speakers provided students with realistic action items that could kick start their entrepreneurial journey and discussed their own endeavors and issues in the business world, such as global leadership and the impact of artificial intelligence.
“The goal is to have everyone familiarize themselves with the entrepreneurial mindset of never giving up despite hardship and not being afraid of taking controlled risks,” outreach director junior Zeynep Arat said. “The one main message the guest speakers have shared so far is to get out of your comfort zone.’”
To encourage students to take this risk, the club aims to provide students with the resources necessary to succeed through a series of lunchtime workshops. Topics range from the stages of a start-up to developing a business model.
“Before, I thought entrepreneurship was just a ‘get rich quick’ gimmick for broke high school and college graduates,” club member junior Michael Tran said. “But, from Entrepreneurship Club, I’m starting to understand that it’s a means of finding and solving problems in daily life or generally in the world.”
Entrepreneurship club meets every Monday in Room 911. Find more information about their next guest speaker on their Instagram @nhs.entrepreneurship_club.
