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Student Stories & Photos

Zach Rose ’18
Major/Minor: Physics and Math
The Bates Center provided me access to on-campus talks from successful business leaders. This was inspirational and gave me the confidence to try my hand at entrepreneurship. Once I began that journey, the center provided me with resources, advice, and networking opportunities that have been extremely useful and productive. I have connected with numerous advisors and some potential investors for the 3D printing startup I am involved in HydraResearch3d.com. I only wish that I had engaged with the Bates Center earlier in my college career to take better advantage of the outstanding resources and opportunities that are available. For a motivated student, the holistic and interdisciplinary educational style of Lewis & Clark are incredible preparation for a future in entrepreneurship. If a student takes a little initiative, the Bates Center bridges the gap between classroom education and practical business skills beautifully.

Alumna Renee Allums ’18 joined other change makers on stage at Portland State University’s School of Business and Women’s Resource Center for their event: Empowering Women of Color in Business. Each year, they center on the experiences of businesswomen of color. Allums said “Sometimes all it takes to be a leader is having the courage to speak up and be vulnerable. The opportunity to be among these inspiring women and share our stories of redefining failure was an empowering moment that I will forever cherish.” Nong Poonskuwattana, alumna and Lewis & Clark Trustee Paula Hayes, and Ramona Smith also joined Allums on stage.

Renee Allums-D’Espyne ’18
Major/Minor: Rhetoric & Media Studies/Ethnic Studies
For me, hearing inspirational speakers from various backgrounds and career paths has been helpful in reassuring me that there is no singular or linear pathway to a successful future. The Center of Entrepreneurship is an excellent resource for students who cannot quite figure out how their liberal arts education will be applicable to the business world. It offers the chance for exploration concerning topics that diverge from the classroom. Not only does this spark fascination and creativity, but also motivation that your liberal arts education actually does hold value in the real word. Bring an appetite for curiosity and the possibilities at the Center of Entrepreneurship are endless.

Max Clary ’18
Major: Chemistry
Lewis & Clark College and the Center for Entrepreneurship have nourished my talents and accelerated me to new heights in my journey of helping create a brighter future for this world. Whether it is co-founding my nonprofit in Uganda, interning with CEOs around Portland, or designing photocatalytic clay disks to purify water in developing countries, I know I will always look back and owe a huge debt of gratitude towards Lewis & Clark College. Learn more about Max’s international venture.

Andrew Cavanaugh ’17
Major: Economics
Interview prep, networking opportunities, and hands-on care from the Center for Entrepreneurship meant that I was able to land a dream internship with a San Francisco tech startup this summer. Believe it or not, I was actually able to leverage my liberal arts education to provide meaningful and valuable outcomes for the company that helped to solve years of analysis paralysis. Lewis & Clark provides a unique and holistic education that doesn’t necessarily arm students with concrete skills that entry-level positions seek. The events hosted by the Center, such as Winterim, were incredibly important in helping me formulate how my unique background as a liberal arts student provided value beyond crunching numbers or fetching coffee.

Micah Leinbach ’14
Major: Environmental Studies
I was involved in the inaugural Winterim. Lewis & Clark’s budding entrepreneurship program offered an invaluable guide as I got my business operation, an adventure education company, off the ground. Entrepreneurship at Lewis & Clark is the perfect marriage of the liberal arts and the actual work of adding value to the world. The program helped me to create a career of my own making, while still taking full advantage of the theory, thinking, and big picture vision that takes place in a L&C classroom. Five years later, I am still grateful and still involved in entrepreneurship as a Venture for America fellow. With several rolling deadlines throughout the year, I am happy to discuss my experience with any student interested in applying. (Micah served in a range of leadership roles while on campus, from working with the school paper to advocating for an overhaul of student government. He was heavily involved with sustainability initiatives on campus. A College Outdoors trip leader, he credits a combination of outdoor leadership skills and an entrepreneurial attitude as the source of his success, both on and off-campus.)

Joyness Byarugaba ’19

Major: Economics and Biology

After participating in Winterim, I hoped to further my involvement within the Center for Entrepreneurship. Luckily, there was an opportunity to pitch a business idea and get start-up support and funding. That’s what my business partner and I did. iBraid was an idea just as many entrepreneurial ideas we all have, but this time there was an opportunity to put this idea into action. This has provided and still provides me experiences that teach me a lot. Additionally, this experience has brought into my world people who are knowledgeable, excited about entrepreneurship, helpful, supportive but also people who challenge you and your idea. Having such people around is inspiring, encourages more accountability, and assists continued self development in this field. I look forward to getting more involved with the Center for Entrepreneurship, utilizing available resources, especially the creative, friendly room in Howard, and also supporting others with the desire to be an entrepreneur.

Quotes about our Classes:

This is one of (if not the) most broadly useful classes I’ve taken during my 4 years at LC. Learning skills like filing a provisional patent, design thinking and formulation through approaches like ‘Draw Toast’ and functional decomposition and business and marketing skills through rotation projects are things that I will continue to use in the long term. I love how much students from all different sections of the liberal arts come together in this course, bring different areas of expertise and their own spice to the stew of ideas we have.

Tech of the Future has not only been a class but an experience that has allowed me to grow personally, academically and as an entrepreneur.

This has been one of my all time favorite classes I have taken at LC. I have not taken many science classes and don’t consider myself very tech savvy so I was a little nervous about what I would be able to contribute to this class, but I always felt like I was able to use my knowledge and skills to engage with whatever we were working on or talking about. More importantly, I think this class has taught me more useful skills than I ever expected to get out of a single semester. All of the workshops presented us with numerous new ways to approach problems and ideas, and I have already used some of them in other classes and in my own life.

I feel like the most important thing I learned from this class is how to recognize a need within an organization or society and then how to go about figuring out how to solve that need by working with other people and asking the right questions. That is a skill that I think will be applicable in any field that I choose to enter after graduation. I think this is a type of class that everyone should take before they graduate, in order to learn the skills to function most effectively in the ever changing future.

Tech of the Future has easily been the most exciting, interesting, and rewarding class I have taken at LC. The lectures and discussions were usually great, but what really took this course to the next level was the projects, workshops, and group work. There is so much freedom to explore hunches, hobbies, and passions and really flesh out your ideas with a great team of people to work with. I also loved the diverse and interesting array of individuals in this class that would have never met otherwise.

We have done some super impressive work in this class. I learned a lot concerning how to approach work in my other classes and throughout life in general. Principals of having a growth mindset, networking, finding ones skill set, and not being afraid of ambition have been imbued on the whole class. This class really showed how to apply a liberal arts education unlike any other class I’ve taken. This is a course everyone should take before leaving LC.

This class is honestly the best class I’ve taken at L&C and that’s not an easy achievement. The design thinking, entrepreneurial skill, teamwork, and general knowledge I’ve attained has already begun to be valuable personally and professionally. And it was so fun! I honestly had a blast in this class.

Specific Quotes about Winterim:

Madelaine Hyde ’16 (International Affairs and Economics): Winterim was one of the most valuable experiences I have had at my time at LC. This week was filled with speakers that pushed my boundaries of what I believed about business and showed me how we could harness profit to serve the common good.

Zach Kavanagh ’18 (Studio Art): For me, the experience of Winterim was entirely invaluable, confirming the non-academic applications of a liberal arts education, something that I had been greatly questioning until this week. The networking activities alone were absolutely incredible and made for a week that was beyond expectations.

Gabriella Seltzer ’16 (SOAN and minor ENVS): Winterim made me feel like anything is possible. Through the lens of entrepreneurship—specifically social entrepreneurship—every problem becomes an opportunity for a solution. Jed Emerson’s passionate persistence in breaking down the separation between doing good (donating money and service) and doing well (making money) convinced me that the critical mind of a liberal arts student can visualize and create paradigm-shifting new ways of understanding the world. As someone with no previous business or finance experience, Winterim provided an incredible opportunity to engage with the process of turning ideas into practical and profitable ventures.

Alexa Jakusovszky ’16 (International Affairs): The program elucidated how entrepreneurial thinking alongside meaningful collaboration has limitless potential in changing the world for the better. The incredible line-up of speakers provided invaluable insight into the entrepreneurial world by highlighting the ways a liberal arts education uniquely prepares students to engage with innovative design.

Joshua Proto ’16 (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology): A lot of my friends in their social science classes have been telling me about their “capstone” classes where a broad topic in their field of study is analyzed through a variety of intellectual frameworks they have learned up to that point. Reflecting on last week, I feel that Winterim was my quintessential capstone of the Liberal Arts, providing me the space to gather up all the knowledge, communication skills, and creativity I have learned so far to solve a pressing social problem.

At Winterim not only did I meet pioneers of social entrepreneurship and learn first hand the skills they have used to become successful and positively affect their communities, but I learned more about what makes me feel empowered to be a social entrepreneur and found mentors who are willing to help me succeed.

Frances Swanson ’17 (ENVS) The Winterim opened my mind to the world of social entrepreneurship, a field I would have never considered if I had not taken this valuable course. It was both inspiring and practical in its content and skill development. I ended the week feeling empowered to harness my liberal arts education to make a difference using my career.

Max Clary ’18

Major: Chemistry
Lewis & Clark College and the Center for Entrepreneurship have nourished my talents and accelerated me to new heights in my journey of helping create a brighter future for this world. Whether it is co-founding my nonprofit in Uganda, interning with CEOs around Portland, or designing photocatalytic clay disks to purify water in developing countries, I know I will always look back and owe a huge debt of gratitude towards Lewis & Clark College. Learn more about Max’s international venture.

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Winterim was amazing! It provided me with a platform to connect and build relationships that I will have for the rest of my life. More importantly it opened my eyes and helped me see what I was made of. I was thrown in the fire of brainstorming and problem solving with not much time to work with. I learned that I was able to act as an entrepreneur, think of an idea and help develop the idea with a team. Every day since Winterim I have been thinking about the speakers that I listened to, the advice from mentors, and the skills I have acquired. I can gladly say that my Winterim experience will assist me every day of my future.

Adrian Romero ’19 (Rhetoric and Media Studies)
One of the most important lessons I derived from Winterim was how to prioritize my time most effectively to be adaptive to the kinds of challenges that face an entrepreneur. After Winterim, I feel immensely more prepared than before to enter the professional working world of my major. I was also lucky enough to be given the opportunity to network with a broad spectrum of entrepreneurs from whom I gleaned numerous valuable lessons that helped me to become more equipped to approach obstacles I might face in the near future as an emerging professional.

Ahmed Gedi ’19 (Computer Science)
Upon entering college, I was anxious about lots of things but the most striking was that I would be at the bottom of a system again as a freshman. I constantly looked around for opportunities to prove myself and this opportunity came around with Winterim. Of course, I can’t speak highly enough of how amazing our mentors were and how much I learned in just a week, but there is something in particular that really struck me after finishing the week. I finally proved to my peers and higher-ups that a freshman could do just as well if not better than the juniors and seniors. Winterim unlocked my future and set the stage for the next classes of students that anyone, no matter their age, is able to succeed.

Matthew Telles ’21
During Winterim, I learned the value of market research and collaboration in creating a sound and deliverable business plan. And the importance of remaining flexible, adaptable and able to bounce back quickly as you might encounter dead-ends and information gaps but must find a way to keep your business sustainable.

Christen Comer ’18 (Rhetoric and Media Studies)
Participating in Winterim was an experience unlike anything I had done at Lewis & Clark. It was unique in that I was able to learn leadership and teamwork skills by actually collaborating with my peers toward a collective vision. Also, engaging with real-life entrepreneurs was extremely valuable - not only was I able to make lasting and deep connections, but it gave me direct contact with the entrepreneurial world. I was lucky to have had this experience as an undergraduate.

Rachel Stone ’18 (Psychology and Asian Studies)
As a senior, Winterim was an unexpectedly timely experience for me, as I will soon be entering the workforce. Every day of the program we were immersed in workshops, lectures, mentorships, and networking events in which enhanced our interpersonal skills, networks, and understanding not only of how business works, but how to be professional, financially savvy, and an essential part of any team. It was an intensive and invaluable experience that I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of.

Sage Milestone ’18 (International Affairs)
When I signed up for Winterim, I desired a better understanding of entrepreneurship and what it entails to be an entrepreneur. Looking back today, my expectations were met and more. The ten workshops taught us not only how to be a successful entrepreneur, but also the value of a liberal arts education, how to manage finances, and current social problems to name a few. In the process, we connected with successful and local entrepreneurs – including alumni – and listened to their inspiring stories and suggestions for our product. Furthermore, I have learned and improved a vast amount of skills that I know will be extensively used in my future. Because of Winterim, I am now more confident than ever to face the world after graduation.

Edward Nguyen ’18 (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
The week-long workshop allowed access to skills and opportunities that I would not have gained in a traditional classroom setting, all while connecting me with Lewis and Clark’s impressive alumni network. On a personal level, the lectures were extremely informative and insightful. What I value most about my Winterim experience was the chance to meet the many helpful and inspiring entrepreneurs throughout the week, and afterwards reconnect with a select few individuals whose career path excited me. The amount of resources provided by this program has been both fruitful and eye-opening, indeed.

Yaniv Shier ’18 (Rhetoric and Media Studies)
Winterim taught me how to hone in on an idea and make it into a solid business plan that could be viable to potential investors. The program also showed me that businesses can be a force for social change and inspiration in a world that is often so negative. Through the many mentors we had, I was able to understand the challenges that face every day business people and the constant readjustments you must make to your plans. Overall, I was inspired and felt like I learned more real life skills in a week than a semester at school.

Zachary Lerman ’19 (Economics)
Winterim is a life changing event that any student interested in business or entrepreneurship should pursue.

Noah Avery-Navickas ’19 (English)

Student Stories & Photos

Quotes about our Classes:

Specific Quotes about Winterim:

Max Clary ’18