Start@Shea Rewind: Wrapping Up a Special Semester
Alright everyone, it’s time for our last blog of the semester! It’s been a crazy last few months but looking at all we put on, it was absolutely worth all the work that went into it. Before we get into the events and programs, I want to say thank you to everyone who came to anything we put on throughout the entire semester, checked out our website, saw any of our posts, stopped by the Shea room, or read any of these blog posts. Everyone’s support even in the smallest ways goes a long way. We can’t wait to keep putting on as many initiatives for everyone around campus and beyond and we couldn’t do it without you! Okay, let’s get into the last few months.
Starting off, we had our final leg of The Lab, Start@Shea’s open incubator. Workshop number four was “Everything Marketing,” where Jack Russell (CSOM ‘23), our Lab team lead and resident founder, went over building a brand, field advertising, and a quick Canva 101. Next up was “How to Leverage Your Network,” where Jack went over finding funding, and seeking out VCs, investor relations, and legal documents. And finally, The Lab wrapped up with next steps for the participants and their businesses, namely pubbing their opportunity to join our Accelerator program. The Lab was originally designed to better prepare students to bridge the gap between ideation and being ready to actually apply to an early-stage accelerator, like the one we put on here. The teams who went to enough workshops are guaranteed a first-round interview for our accelerator, speaking of which…
We are launching our Accelerate@Shea Applications today!! If you have any stage start up, please, please, please apply! Accelerate@Shea is a 9-week program providing student startups with weekly workshops, mentorship from experienced professionals, $1,500 in equity-free funding, and a community filled with like-minded student founders! At the end of the program, teams will pitch their companies to the BC entrepreneurship community composed of students, alumni, and more. This is a great opportunity for student founders to grow their startups alongside other founders and expand their company’s reach. Learn more about the program on our website. Our accelerator program is a big hit each year, and is the best way to bring your start up to the next level. Applications are open until 11:59 PM on Wednesday, December 28th. Click here to apply and if you have any questions feel free to email us at startatshea@gmail.com. We look forward to reading your applications!
Next up, we’re currently running the new Shea Center Toy Drive in collaboration with all the other Shea Center Clubs: Women Innovators Network (WIN), Venture Capital Private Equity (VCPE), and Entrepreneurs for Social Impact (ESI). All of our donations are going to Action for Boston Community Development to get these toys to kids who might not get any during their holiday season. If you want to make a difference in someone’s most wonderful time of the year, please consider donating and helping Shea give back to the community that has given us all so much. We are accepting donations until Thursday, December 8th, so stop by with a new toy any weekday between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM–Plus, everyone who donates will have a chance to enter to win a $50 Whole Foods gift card. Let’s do some good all together!
We’ve also been continuing our Ambassador program where we introduce freshmen into the Shea community. We had a few new workshops going over course selections and interviewing. We also had two mini ideathons to challenge the freshmen to brainstorm and pitch their best ideas within an hour. Even over one semester, the students have grown into themselves so much, and it’s been wonderful to see. I can’t wait to see what they do as they get more involved next semester!
Our outreach team has continued to put on amazing one time events, like the Shea Community dinner in November, our upcoming board holiday party, and our recent collab with FACES, “POC Barriers in Entrepreneurship” last week. The community dinner was just a great way to connect with everyone around campus who is involved in shea in any way. From E-Board members, to competitors in our competitions, to regular attendees, everyone who popped out had a great time! Our holiday party will invite back our Start@Shea Alumni to celebrate the holidays with friendly faces, new and old. And our collab event with FACES was a huge success. We worked together to provide insight on barriers and struggles for people of color in the entrepreneurship and business space. It was incredibly eye opening to hear stories from people who faced implicit biases and discrimination in their experiences going through recruiting or as founders of color. Education through events like this are some of the most important things we can do to create change, and Start@Shea is committed to helping in any way we can.
And one last update from Shea, WE HAVE NEW BOARD MEMBERS WOOHOO! Please welcome Kristian Lamarre (CSOM ‘24), Jack McConnell (CSOM ‘24), Jameson Shi (CSOM ‘24), Ted Wind (CSOM ‘25), Seda Sargsyan (CSOM ‘25), and Gabe Garcia (CSOM ’25) to the Start@Shea E-Board! We are so excited to have you guys and can’t wait to see all that you make happen on board. Get excited to see what these students bring to the table everyone because they’re going to be special.
Alright folks, that’s all we have to cover today and for this semester. If I can pull back the curtain for a brief moment, though, I want to say thank you to everyone who has ever read even a singular word of any of these blogs. This initiative started from our marketing lead Alina Yan (CSOM ’23) pushing me to do my best and enjoy every minute of it. Writing these little posts and putting in my little voice for others to see has been an absolute pleasure and thinking about putting a smile on someone’s face with some words on a page brings me so much joy. It was my first full semester on board, and this has been one of the highlights of my time so far. So thank you all so much, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and break, and I’ll see you all once again next semester. Start@Shea is signing off for 2022.
Thanks for reading! We are Start@Shea, the student executive team of the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship at Boston College.
If you want to learn more about who we are, what we do, and our upcoming events, please feel free to visit our website. You can also subscribe to our newsletter here, and if you have any further questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at startatshea@gmail.com!
