The Power of Mentorship and Relationship Building

Being a new student at North Broward in the fall of 2020 was especially hard for me, since I had packed my bags and moved all the way to sunny Florida from a small town in New Jersey. While creating my schedule for the school year, I actually didn’t have the Entrepreneurial Studies program on my schedule at first. But, when I had an unexpected schedule change, there were only a few options of classes that I could take, and the Entrepreneurial Studies program was one of them. My mom kept telling me about how amazing it would be for me, so I took the slot! I am happy to say, that decision was one that changed my life.

From making and selling bracelets at my local swim club, to making beauty products that were sold at my middle school’s entrepreneurship club, to now making and selling my own clothing, my whole life, I have always been an entrepreneur. I love being able to express my creativity through problem solving and marketing. There is something about selling a product that I made to people that makes me so excited and eager.

Before joining the program, the only thing that I really knew about myself was how driven I was. I knew that whatever I wanted to do, I would do anything to achieve it. After a few weeks of being in the program, I started to learn and discover more of my strengths, and weaknesses. I never knew that one of my strengths would be networking and building relationships with other people that I barely knew, and that one of my weaknesses would be patience. Although it was hard to learn in a setting where we all had to wear masks and have shields in front of us, I learned the most that I ever could in this class. Not only did I learn so much about myself, but I also learned so much about the world of business. From reading articles on twitter that Ms.Hall posted every morning to having long discussions in the classroom about Bit-coin, I am proud to say that this class was probably the most educational class I have ever taken.

The reason why I love and enjoy this program so much was because of how it is structured. If you were to be in a core class like math or science, you would have tests, quizzes, projects, and lectures, basically just memorizing stuff that you don’t want to. With the entrepreneurship class, since it is pass/fail, you don’t feel pressured to get things done or stressed about any assignments, because you work at your own pace. Also, there is no room to fail with a core class.When you want to succeed in a class, failing seems pretty scary when you can’t do much about it. With this program, not only are you allowed to fail, but you are allowed to fail without being scrutinized. Instead of being in trouble for not doing your homework or not passing a test, you get constructive criticism and feedback from your classmates and your teacher to make whatever you are doing better. One of the biggest lessons that Ms.Hall has taught me is that failing is a part of the process, and that it is okay to fail. This made me take more risks than I ever would have imagined, and really be myself in the classroom.

Reflecting back on the year I had, I’d say it was very successful. I now have 2 amazing mentors that have given me great advice about my startup. As well, I was so grateful to attend the Startup Studios annual “Summit”, which was an online event where students met with different people who all were successful in different fields and industries. These people are called “Global Ambassadors”. I learned so much from that experience, and I even got a shoutout from 2 of the Global Ambassadors complimenting me on my ideas and my personality. Lastly, one of the most amazing things that happened to me this year was winning a contest that was put up by a guest speaker from our class. We often have guest speakers, and this speaker decided to hold two contests, in which I entered both. I won the marketing contest that I entered, which was to create a marketing theme for her upcoming book. Not only did I win $5,000, but I also won a paid internship with the speaker and a shoutout in her upcoming book! I am so grateful to be a part of such an amazing community, and I can’t wait to continue in this program next year.

By Carly Burr, LTS Alumnus