I spent a week as a teacher’s assistant at YIBI’s 2019 Summer session. This camp aims to further the entrepreneurial spirit of the Silicon Valley by introducing young minds to the world of startups. This program has leading experts in their individual fields come and educate the students about the essential tasks of creating a startup as students create a presentational pitch detailing their own idea. TAs and students alike give constructive criticism everyday to help improve and fix each other’s presentations. After much hard work, the students compete against one another to advance to the YIBI Grand Finals.
My previous experience as a student in this program has created a desire to give back and become a TA. I participated two times in YIBI’s business camp, and each time the TAs were of much help, so becoming one and helping students was a goal of mine that was finally achieved. My second time as a student was my successful one, culminating in a second place finish at YIBI’s Grand Finals, a very rewarding experience. Thus began the quest to become a TA for this program that taught me so much.
The team for which I was a TA created an app that allowed for one individual to give another individual a job. This app allowed for small household jobs that you have no time for to be done by another person, and was named HomeHelper. As a result of this system, the person doing the job can be a younger person, as these errands can be sourced out to teenagers wanting to make some money on a side job.
My team originally had a different idea, but after doing extensive research, found that there was a surplus of competition in that field, and switched to the pitch mentioned above. As they did not have the benefit of time, they were hard-pressed to finish their presentation in a timely manner, but they pulled it off through determination and persistence. The result of their hard work was an exciting pitch with beautiful aesthetics and detailed slides.
Being a TA here was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. From helping each team on specific parts of their pitch, to giving helpful constructive criticism, this job was an experience of a lifetime. Working to help improve each team was difficult, as five days to create a polished and well-written presentation is no mean feat, but by the end all the teams had an exciting way to showcase their ideas. Engaging in conversation with the students was also very stimulating as I got to know each and every one of them. Breaks in between lessons and work time helped me to relax and refocus my efforts to help the students. Finally, pouring in hours after class helped finalize the ideas of my group.
