30A- Final Reflection

2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

What sticks out to me as the most formative experience is when I got my first internship with Congressman Ted Yoho. I was really happy because I was very passionate about my job in his office and here I am 2 semesters later and I was asked to come back to his office again for a third semester. Another experience I am really proud of is getting an internship for this upcoming fall with the State Attorney's Office in Gainesville. I was happy because I am able to really dive into the legal field and see for myself what's going on. 

3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

To be honest, I don't see myself as an entrepreneur, but I do appreciate all the skills this class has taught me. I believe that if an individual is well-rounded and knowledgeable in multiple topics then they will be more successful and will be able to contribute more to society, as well as the work force. The closest thing I can see myself doing that is somewhat related to being an entrepreneur is having my own law firm in the future. Other than that, I'm not creative enough to think of things to event nor am I patient enough to go through the entire process of doing so.

4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

One recommendation I have is don't let the negativity of others let you down. If you are determined about something, as long as you stick to it and are willing to go through the challenges of it then you will do big things in the future. What I would recommend for future students taking this course is make sure you do all the assignments. Also, what I recommend to foster that mindset is to stay focused and determined, and don't let outside distractions get to them.

5) 

29A- Venture Concept No. 2

1) My opportunity is the proposal of removing the pluses and minuses in the grading system. This opportunity would benefit the students at the University of Florida, but also the TA's and professors as well. The students benefit alot from this because they will be more motivated in school, have higher GPA's, more time to pursue activities outside of school such as clubs and internships, and lastly, they will have higher chances to be admitted in graduate school. The TA's will benefit from this opportunity because if they have high pass rates then they are eligible to be TA's again the next semester in that course. Some international graduate students rely heavily on this because their performance as a TA can lead to how long theyre able to stay in the United States so it's very important. Lastly, professors benefit from this opportunity because they will have higher pass rates in their classes. If the professors have low pass rates they could potentially lose their jobs or have lower rankings as a professor which will result in fewer students taking a course with them. The forces that created this opportunity were the difficulty of courses at the University of Florida because of the increase in rankings in the past few years. It is clear that the University of Florida wants only the best students, and wants their degree to be filled with absolute value once their students graduate. Currently, students are enduring the stresses of school and relying on third parties sources such as Study Edge, Smokin Notes, and other tutoring stations either on campus or outside of campus. Not all students can afford these resources, taking into consideration that many are taking out student loans for their undergraduate studies and will be taking out more for their graduate studies as well. This opportunity is very big because it can make the academic lives of students a lot better. Fewer students will have mental breakdowns and anxiety because they're for example "one point away" from that A and won't have to suffer the consequences of their GPA.

This idea does not make money. It is kind of similar to a law. It's a proposal to improve the academic career of students at the University of Florida because of how difficult the courses are currently. Many students are having lower chances of becoming admitted to graduate school and losing their scholarships at the expense of their mental state because of the difficulty of their coursework. What I would hope to do with this proposal, if it gets approved it extend this idea to other top 10 universities, as well as Ivy League schools. I believe that all students in those schools are going through the same struggles UF students are going through and need to have this proposed grade change to help them out. I think about it this way, if you're constantly discouraged to do your school work because whatever you do you still wont get that A, then you will end up doing really bad in the long run, so it helps if things are just a little bit easier but not unbelievably simple to the point that it will lower the prestige of your degree.

Universities will switch to this idea because they do not want to their students to drop their university and have staggering GPAS which can in fact bring down the ranking of that school and limit the opportunities the alumni have in terms of the job market. Major factors that play into role in a university's ranking is how well the alumni do afterwards. If Harvard University for example had a ton of loser alumni that weren't going anywhere in their life, then their ranking would drop drastically. It will be difficult to get other schools to switch because they're afraid their school will be seen as more easy, but having many students drop the same courses isn't too good for them either. The competitor in this idea would be UF Registrar. This is because they set the grading policy for each school, therefore I would have to somehow convince them that this proposal is justified and many students would benefit from this idea. Customer support is going to play a huge role in my idea, which is why I have conducted interviews with people from student government, academic advisors, other students, TA's, professors, and students as well. Student government was the most important interview in my opinion because student government has the ability to play a significant role on campus. In other words, if there is something a group of students want to change on campus, getting support from senators in student government would be your best bet. This is because student government officials have the connections and platform to promote change if they want it to happen. What I would do to gain more support is hold peaceful protests on campus, out up signs all over the place, and hold meetings that students can attend. I would also create a petition and go into Turlington or Plaza of the Americas and explain the proposal to students and see if theyre interested in signing and joining the cause.

I believe my most important source will be gathering support and connections from different people to help me with my opportunity. This will not be very simple because I have run into people that aren't too fond of my idea, because they worry a lot about the university's statistics. My idea isn't meant to be exclusive to just the University of Florida, I want other schools to implement the same thing I am proposing therefore I am not too worried about anyone copying my idea. The next thing I want to do with this opportunity is spread it to other top 10 schools and Ivy Leagues. What next for me is I want be heavily involved in addressing faults in the university system and help working with schools and students to improve certain things on campus.

2) I did not receive any feedback on my first venture concept therefore it is hard to complete this part of the question. However, on my "What's next" post I was told that there will be a high demand o for my idea, however, extending it to Ivy League schools will be difficult because those schools are known for their prestige and difficulty so the ranking of those schools would go down so they might not approve of my idea.

3) I did not change my venture idea because I did not recieve any feedback, therefore it was hard to know what to change.

4)

28A- Your Exit Strategy

1) With my opportunity, once I implement the new grade changes at UF, I'm going to advocate it to other Florida colleges and then try to target other top 10 schools in the country. I believe it will be a difficult thing to accomplish but once some schools start implementing this policy, others will want to do the same thing as well.

2) I have selected this particular strategy because most students at the top 10 public schools are the ones that are suffering extremely from the pressures their institutions place on them. The courses are more difficult at these schools compared to other mediocre colleges, so it makes sense to change the grading system for these students.

3) My exit strategy has influenced my opportunity because initially I was planning on just keeping the grade change policy strictly just at UF, but as I thought about the future I realized that it would be a good idea to get other schools to do it as well. The more schools that get involved, the easier it will be to convince schools that are being more strict about implementing a new change in their grading scale.

27A- Reading Reflection No. 3

The biography I chose to read for this assignment was on Ray Kroc in the book "Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald's" 

1) What surprised me the most about Ray Kroc in this book was that he dropped out of school and then started working for a company called Lily Tulips Cups co. This surprised me alot because in our society alot of emphasis is placed on education and how important it is to be successful in life. However, many of the wealthiest people in the world and CEOs of different companies do not have adequate education. They used their brain not the skills they were taught in school. 

What admired me the most about Ray Kroc was that he developed an interest in entrepreneurship at a young age when he started selling lemonade. It showed how passionate he was about entrepreneurship from the beginning of his childhood, which persisted throughout his years in the making of McDonald's. 

What I least admired about Ray Kroc was when he lied about his age to become a driver of the Red Cross when he was younger. I believe that no matter how passionate you are about something, you always have to be honest. 

The entrepreneur encountered adversity and failure when he partnered with the McDonald's brothers to have McDonalds become worldwide but they didn't agree to it. What he did was ended up partnering up with someone and then paid 2.7 million dollars for all of McDonalds. After that, he was able to spread its influence worldwide and make alot of money out of it.

2) Just like any other entrepreneur, Ray Kroc was very intelligent and portrayed alot of interest in business at a very young age. 

3) One part that was confusing to me was why is he more relevant than the McDonald's brothers in the making of the restaurant. 

4) Two questions I would ask is why would did you decide to take over McDonald's and if McDonald's were to be unsuccessful, would you move forward with another business plan or give up on entrepreneurship for the rest of your life? 

5) I think Ray Kroc loved hard work and was willing to do anything to become successful. He was a very driven and motivated man. 

26A- Celebrating Failure

1) One time I have failed this semester is when I did not declare two assignments in this class, even though I finished the assignment. It was very upsetting because I did all the work for it but those two assignment declarations brought my grade down.

2) Thankfully, I still have an A in this class but ever since that incident I have been very diligent in making sure I declare my assignments after I have completed them. It is very upsetting to lose points for something you worked so hard on.

3) To be honest, I don't handle failure too well. It is definitely something I need to work on. I attribute it to my lack of patience and excessive pride and confidence when I do things. For the most part, I always expect things to go the way I want and when they don't I become very disappointed. However, as I've entered college and endured some of the challenges that have come my way at UF, I have learned that failure is a normal thing and you can't let one failure set you back on your goals. Instead, you should use it to work harder on achieving your goals. This class has changed my perspective in failure because it emphasized that in your business plan, you will have to go through several failures until you are able to overcome them and finalize your product. In terms of taking risks in business, I would only do it if I had a substantial amount of money, however i would not put in everything I have for something that might not work out.

24A- Venture Concept #1

My opportunity is the proposal of removing the pluses and minuses in the grading system. This opportunity would benefit the students at the University of Florida, but also the TA's and professors as well. The students benefit alot from this because they will be more motivated in school, have higher GPA's, more time to pursue activities outside of school such as clubs and internships, and lastly, they will have higher chances to be admitted in graduate school. The TA's will benefit from this opportunity because if they have high pass rates then they are eligible to be TA's again the next semester in that course. Some international graduate students rely heavily on this because their performance as a TA can lead to how long theyre able to stay in the United States so it's very important. Lastly, professors benefit from this opportunity because they will have higher pass rates in their classes. If the professors have low pass rates they could potentially lose their jobs or have lower rankings as a professor which will result in fewer students taking a course with them. The forces that created this opportunity were the difficulty of courses at the University of Florida because of the increase in rankings in the past few years. It is clear that the University of Florida wants only the best students, and wants their degree to be filled with absolute value once their students graduate. Currently, students are enduring the stresses of school and relying on third parties sources such as Study Edge, Smokin Notes, and other tutoring stations either on campus or outside of campus. Not all students can afford these resources, taking into consideration that many are taking out student loans for their undergraduate studies and will be taking out more for their graduate studies as well. This opportunity is very big because it can make the academic lives of students a lot better. Fewer students will have mental breakdowns and anxiety because they're for example "one point away" from that A and won't have to suffer the consequences of their GPA.

This idea does not make money. It is kind of similar to a law. It's a proposal to improve the academic career of students at the University of Florida because of how difficult the courses are currently. Many students are having lower chances of becoming admitted to graduate school and losing their scholarships at the expense of their mental state because of the difficulty of their coursework. What I would hope to do with this proposal, if it gets approved it extend this idea to other top 10 universities, as well as Ivy League schools. I believe that all students in those schools are going through the same struggles UF students are going through and need to have this proposed grade change to help them out. I think about it this way, if you're constantly discouraged to do your school work because whatever you do you still wont get that A, then you will end up doing really bad in the long run, so it helps if things are just a little bit easier but not unbelievably simple to the point that it will lower the prestige of your degree.

Universities will switch to this idea because they do not want to their students to drop their university and have staggering GPAS which can in fact bring down the ranking of that school and limit the opportunities the alumni have in terms of the job market. Major factors that play into role in a university's ranking is how well the alumni do afterwards. If Harvard University for example had a ton of loser alumni that weren't going anywhere in their life, then their ranking would drop drastically. It will be difficult to get other schools to switch because they're afraid their school will be seen as more easy, but having many students drop the same courses isn't too good for them either. The competitor in this idea would be UF Registrar. This is because they set the grading policy for each school, therefore I would have to somehow convince them that this proposal is justified and many students would benefit from this idea. Customer support is going to play a huge role in my idea, which is why I have conducted interviews with people from student government, academic advisors, other students, TA's, professors, and students as well. Student government was the most important interview in my opinion because student government has the ability to play a significant role on campus. In other words, if there is something a group of students want to change on campus, getting support from senators in student government would be your best bet. This is because student government officials have the connections and platform to promote change if they want it to happen. What I would do to gain more support is hold peaceful protests on campus, out up signs all over the place, and hold meetings that students can attend. I would also create a petition and go into Turlington or Plaza of the Americas and explain the proposal to students and see if theyre interested in signing and joining the cause.

I believe my most important source will be gathering support and connections from different people to help me with my opportunity. This will not be very simple because I have run into people that aren't too fond of my idea, because they worry a lot about the university's statistics. My idea isn't meant to be exclusive to just the University of Florida, I want other schools to implement the same thing I am proposing therefore I am not too worried about anyone copying my idea. The next thing I want to do with this opportunity is spread it to other top 10 schools and Ivy Leagues. What next for me is I want be heavily involved in addressing faults in the university system and help working with schools and students to improve certain things on campus.

25A- What's Next?

My existing market for my opportunity is just UF students who would like to see new changes to the grading system because of all the stress and anxiety they have to go through due to the difficulty of their courses. The feedback I received was overall very positive and other students like myself want this idea to be implemented.

As my new market I was thinking of attracting other top 10 universities, as well as Ivy leagues to join this cause. I believe it should only be extended to the higher ranked schools because obviously they are more difficult so this grading system would be easier for students to work around. This would be a blessing for all students that attend top 10 and ivy league schools.

I've interviewed two people from the new market and they also agree with my idea because just like UF students, they struggle alot to meet the very difficult grade ranges without dropping classes so they can maintain a high GPA.

In the end, if this becomes extended to other prestigious universities as well I would be thrilled because I would say that I have made a very significant impact.

23A: Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Because my opportunity doesn't include selling an idea, it was hard to come up with 10 things that helped me with my business idea, however I was able to make it work.

1.Being a student at UF
- This is the most valuable element of my opportunity because it is the one factor that works the most in my favor. This factor allows me to successfully advocate for a proposed grade change for all University of Florida students because I emphasize with the struggles other students are facing.

2. Having connections with UF Student Government
- This is also another valuable element of my opportunity because student government officials have alot of widespread impact on campus. Also, they're able to gather a big group of students together and encourage certain changes.

3. My passion and confidence
- Because of how passionate and confident I am about pursuing changes to the grade system on campus, it attracts attention and other students on campus to help back me up on this idea. Also, being consistent and keeping up with proposals is essential to move forward with change

4. The interviews I've conducted with people of different majors
- These interviews really helped me grasp the challenges the current grading system had on students because I only have insight on my major, not the other majors which some are alot more difficult than mine.

5. The TA's and Professors
- Knowing about the statistics of certain weed out classes and how it affects the TAs and professors is a useful element to help solidify my new grade policy changes. 

6. Speaking to UF Registrar
- Gathering the opinion of the opposing party, which in this case is UF Registrar to see what their stance would be on a grade policy change would be is important. We need to see what is a reasonable reach that both me and them could compromise on.

7. Student Mental Health
- Finding out the statistics of students going into the CWC regarding the difficulty of their classes and how often they stress about their grades is important in being able to create this proposal.

8. Conversations with Academic Advisors
- Getting information from academic advisors was also important because knowing the amount of students that had to switch their major because of their grades is crucial.

9. Speaking with students who want to pursue grad school
- Its important to know how many peoples grades and their performance impacts their grad school admission

10. Speaking to a UF faculty member
- They would give input about the proposal