1st Year Living & Learning Cohorts (LLC) Program
TURBO BOOST Entrepreneurship Workshops
Nov. 11-12th

The GW Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence (CFEE) in conjunction with the GW Housing Programs office held the first TURBO BOOST Entrepreneurship Workshops’ for GW First Year Living & Learning Cohorts students.

The workshops assisted students interested in improving their LLC and also their own entrepreneurial skills. The workshops covered topics such as identifying opportunities, organizing teams, creating a marketing plan, and developing metrics on how to evaluate their projects.

One of the the session's main objective was to involve students in a ‘creative experiential exercise’ that mimicked the tasks and challenges they may face in their LLC. The exercise was based on the 3E-Learning.org exercise developed by Reg Litz at the University of Manitoba, titled Kitty Hawk in the Classroom. Students were asked to form groups with other students they just met at the workshop. Each group was then tasked to create a paper aircraft capable of keeping one U.S. quarter aloft for as long as possible while simultaneously transporting the quarter as far as possible. The groups had 40 minutes to complete a finished prototype and develop a marketing pitch to present in a seven-minute presentation to the entire class. 

The presentation had to include the the name of the paper aircraft, the description of their product and a promotional script. Finally the groups had to explain their assessment of their aircraft's prospects for flight, both as it concerns duration aloft and distance flown. 

After all groups have presented their marketing pitches and designs, each group voted for whichever aircraft they felt had the best marketing (by chips). The groups placed their group’s respective ‘bet’ on whichever aircraft they felt had the best prospects for winning the duration aloft and distance flown. Students were evaluated using four equally-weighted measures; two relate to the presentation; two relate to their plane’s actual performance in flight. 

The GWings Air team (left picture) developed a very exciting marketing plan that incorporated the GW name into their aircraft's name. The GWings Air team paper aircraft placed second in distance and first in the duration exercise. To view more pictures of the event (click here)

The workshops conducted by CFEE aimed to help students develop an innovative and practical LLC project idea, contribute substantially to the House theme and community, provide an opportunity for themselves to self explore their capabilities and interests. The workshops also aimed to promote ideas for a year-long learning process and to foster enthusiasm for the LLC members to implement their ideas.

Images from today's workshops

Team brainstorming their aircraft name

Team designing their paper aircraft

SkyBlue pitching their aircraft design

The Quintessential Colonial Team aircraft
marketing plan

Selling the idea - with humor!

This is how we designed our superior aircraft.

Team Cobra at work!