When I think of my freshman year in high school, specific flashbacks come to mind. I recall the little table where my friends would sit at lunch, the senior area where the seniors would blast their favorite songs, our very first ICC cheer, yet the one visual I won't ever forget was actually an Innovation Academy business: BlendZ. Throughout my entire freshman year it was always there. It was because of this smoothie business that I can remember the excitement of running to the line even before getting your lunch, just because you knew it would be so full later on. I remember how simple yet great their marketing was and how much fun they constantly seemed to have. I've looked up to this business ever since I can remember, and I must say I still do. BlendZ was truly a success as a business and I couldn't wait to be in the IA in order to start doing the same things the class of 2015 was doing. Yet now that I'm in the place that I had always longed of being, I must say I'm not only excited, but also slightly scared. Having a successful business isn't at all easy; it takes time, dedication, creativity, problem-solving, and lots & lots of effort. Those are all things I'm willing to put in, yet there is one thing I'm still unsure of how to achieve. BlendZ didn't only sell smoothies, they had created their own culture around their brand. They were a product that didn't only get people excited but they added value in a way that went beyond the product they were selling. I want my business to have a connection with customers so strong that people will remember it as part of a specific stage in their life. A business that will change the atmosphere whenever they are selling their product and that no one will forget about. Of course, now the conditions are different. Different classes have made several businesses throughout the last two years and even in our cohort we have around five businesses, so it's not like we're all working towards the same business. This makes it even harder for a business to be unique and successful, but that’s what happens in the real world. Now, please don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t replicate BlendZ as I wanted to, and of course we wouldn’t. Each business is unique, and what truly inspires me is the value their business had. I want to create a business that has it’s own culture and impacts people’s lives; a business people truly care about and still remember years after it’s over. This business was valuable to the community and engaged with them with their contests, ads, videos, and overall fun presence. The quote below couldn't be more accurate towards what a business should be aiming for. I hope this semester I can reach the goal of creating a business with value. " Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."
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New beginnings are always exciting. Whether it's moving to another country, the first day of summer, or a fresh idea that just came into your mind, there's always that thrill of emotion stirring inside you, as if announcing that something big is about to happen. Yet along with all this, sometimes comes a little nervousness and worry, which is something totally normal when you're faced with a completely new and unknown situation. These were the emotions most of us experienced the first day of IA this year. Mixing two different grades in one IA cohort? Might seem like a crazy idea, yet at the end of this week, I must say it was definitely one of the best ideas that anyone could have ever come up with. It's really hard to describe that feeling of family we somehow effortlessly managed to create these past few days. It came gradually; our trust and confidence growing the more we talked and interacted with one another, and those feelings or nervousness and worry drifted away without me even noticing, What I really felt helped though, more than anything else was iWeek itself. The whole purpose of iWeek rotated around us and was made to benefit us as a cohort. Having the challenge of creating an ideal culture, allowed us to talk about those things we all valued and believed a great group of people should have from the very beginning. When creating our four core values we right off the bat, found ourselves discussing some of the most crucial things we needed in order to work together well and have a healthy IA environment. This was great, because the sooner we understood what we expected from one another, the less problems we would be faced with later on regarding these things. We named our four core values the following: Feedback, Self, Collaboration, and Purposeful Work. Deciding to expand on each one a little more, we divided ourselves up into groups for each value in order to create a sentence defining each one, rather than dividing up into 2 groups for "systems" and "spaces" just like the task sheet said. This was one of the things I really loved about this iWeek; we were constantly making the project ours. We took ownership over it, molding the different tasks to best suit our needs and preferences and what we believed would work best for us as a class. Collaboration: We respect & trust one another, have organized systems of communication work as a whole to solve problems bigger than ourselves. Purposeful work: To be engaged in your work in order to feel motivated to work hard and create quality work. Feedback: We want everyone to give constructive feedback that challenges ideas and confronts the facts, but also congratulates valuable work. Self: We understand and trust ourselves to achieve success and accomplish personal goals, as well as to contribute positively to the cohort. Based on these four values was that we continued working on developing the systems and spaces necessary to bring our ideas into action. Creating the feedback trays, the background noise for productivity, the birthday and goal-setting systems, along with many others was a constant burst of ideas and creativity. All ideas were welcome, everyone supported one another, and if we weren't sure about how it would work, prototyping was the answer. More than anything this entire process was so fun, so full of open-mindedness and optimism. We were all working towards one common goal: creating the culture we all dreamed of having this year. Finally, by the time we got to the presentation day, it looked to me as if that first IA day had happened such a long time ago. We went through our slides and tried to make the entire presentation as engaging and creative as we could. We gave each other feedback, discussed ideas, and finally successfully presented to the IA sophomores, alumni judges, and Mr. Bon.
From a more personal perspective all I can say is that I couldn't be happier to belong to such an amazing group of people. People that when I feel insecure about something (such as the iWeek presentation intro) will motivate me to succeed, people that constantly make me laugh, that inspire me with their leadership skills and work ethic, and people who make me feel like this year in the IA will be truly unique and unforgettable. Thank you all for the best beginning I could have ever imagined. |