December 6, 2021
A group of graduate and undergraduate students from The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies (CCPS) recently participated virtually in Rotterdam Global Entrepreneurship Week—and Meaghan “Marin” Ruelas Mendoza ’20CCPS, who is studying Integrated Advertising Communications, was a member of the winning team.
“The Global Entrepreneurship Week is part of the Global Development Entrepreneurship Program, an initiative through which the Collins College of Professional Studies provides students with opportunities to create and grow their entrepreneurial ideas in prestigious international events such as boot camps, workshops, and accelerators,” said Luca Iandoli, Ph.D., CCPS Associate Dean for Global Programs and Research and Professor, Division of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Science. “We are extremely proud of Marin’s accomplishment, as well as the efforts of all of our students who participated this year and in the previous three editions of the program.”
During this week-long competition, universities from around the world come together to inspire and help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Through thought-provoking assess, multicultural teams, and challenging assignments, students are inspired to unlock their potential and take the next step on their entrepreneurial journey.
“This experience allowed me to interact with international students, meet new friends, work with people out of the usual context, and hear awesome guest speakers,” Marin said. The program featured two guest speakers from St. John’s, entrepreneurs Deborah Malone, founder of The Internationalist and Susan Schram, a go to Market Advisor, Board Member, Speaker, Consultant, and Interim Executive.
Marin was encouraged to participate in the competition by Tiffany L. Mohr, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Mass Communication. “St. John's strives to provide our students with opportunities to participate in international, collaborative projects like GEW. Marin and her team did a wonderful job creating engaging and impactful videos for the entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and investors.” said Dr. Mohr.
Students were placed into teams with participants from other countries; most members on Marin’s team were from the Netherlands. They worked remotely, which at times posed a challenge since there were only two team members in the Eastern time zone. The teams were given a new prompt every morning with the underlying theme of entrepreneurship and had five hours to direct and produce a video.
Marin said her team wanted to ensure their pieces “touched on an individual” to ensure the theme felt more personal. Their final product was reviewed and rated by other students, as well as a panel of industry experts and professors. The winning video from each day was then played on the last day and a vote was taken to determine the overall winner. Click here to see the winning video.