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December 6, 2014
Reading at Black Gold
Students from our Creative Writing class will be holding their traditional end-of-semester reading at Black Gold on Friday, December 12, at 6pm. The students will read their original poems, short stories, and memoirs to the public and present their completed collections. This is always a wonderful event, and I encourage you to come support our program.
Geoffrey Dyer
December 5, 2014
Mindsumo Challenging Students and Recent Grads
These days, it may seem harder than ever for students and newly-minted graduates to connect with great companies or any companies for that matter. Three years ago, a group of young innovators at Stanford University recognized the difficulties associated with professional networking, and they resolved to develop a solution. Mindsumo was born out of the desire to facilitate professional relationships, encourage mentorships, and provide sponsorships.
Mindsumo is an excellent tool that provides students with the means to connect with companies such as Facebook, Spotify, Microsoft, Kayak, and many more. In three short years, the site has expanded its reach across the nation and has received financial backing from some of the paramount investors in Silicon Valley. These investors include the likes of Voyager Capital, Google Ventures, and StartFund. The combination of financial support and a seemingly never-ending supply of ingenuity have helped Mindsumo to flourish and provide countless opportunities to aspiring professionals. A few such opportunities include the chance to be guest writer for the company’s blog and become a Mindsumo ambassador.
The primary tools used to introduce promising young students to successful companies are challenges. Companies will pose industry specific challenges to the community, thereby allowing members the opportunity to solve the challenge and potentially earn cash, prizes, and recognition. Often times, the challenges are practical and tackle ways in which companies can simplify and connect the world around them to the betterment of everyone.
Another of Mindsumo’s greatest assets is the mentorship feature that it offers its members. Students can search the site for mentors that work in a particular industry, studied a certain major, went to the same university, or possess select skills. These specific criteria allow students to find a very specific mentor who will be best suited to the students’ needs. One great aspect of the community is that it continually feeds into and sustains itself. Students who use the site while in college will often times receive an invitation, upon graduation to become a mentor to new members and help others in the same way they were once helped.
Mindsumo aims to connect not only with students but entire campuses and their student groups. The site offers sponsorships to any group or club who is willing to sign up. The sponsored group spreads the word about Mindsumo and the great benefits of joining the site, and for every click that the group’s sponsorship link gets, money will be accumulated and used to further fund the group’s needs. Sponsorships are a great way of earning a little extra money for a limited budget while simultaneously getting the word out about all of the useful tools that Mindsumo offers.
The creators of Mindsumo envisioned a world where students could more readily interact with one another and the world around them. Since 2011, they’ve built a vast, interconnected, and  incredibly helpful network which has seen exponential growth and will only continue to make the world after college a much smaller and much closer one.