Identifying Local Opportunities

Local Opportunities in Orlando, Florida

The Orlando Sentinel

1. Key GOP lawmaker: No fix needed for school voucher program as more companies pull funds over LGBTQ policies
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-voucher-programs-lgbtq-legislature-20200130-jbnxzjs5fjfldm4kfgsrc4gaay-story.html

Description: State Senator Manny Diaz, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, supports the policy that private schools that receive taxpayer money through vouchers can discriminate against LGBTQ students. Fifth Third National Bank and Wells Fargo Bank have withdrawn from the voucher program because of 156 private schools that have anti-gay policies. Democrats have tried to pass bills that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation with the voucher program, but none have passed. This year's version of the bill, HB 45, hasn't received a hearing yet. 

What: The problem is that private schools are continually allowed to deny LGBTQ students admittance because of their private institution status, but the vouchers that private school children use are paid for by taxpayer dollars.

Who: Democrats and Republicans in the State Senate, Private schools, LGBTQ students, taxpayers, parents of the LGBTQ students.

2. Troubled UCF frat suspended through the end of 2020
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-sigma-chi-suspended-20200130-3wvfu65h65at3jvqexyxe37xvq-story.html

Description: The UCF Sigma Chi chapter has extended its suspension through the end of 2020. The fraternity was already suspended because of a trip they took to Isla Bella Beach Resort in Marathon during which they jumped from balconies, smoked marijuana in the rooms, and got the police called to "keep the peace."  The chapter was further suspended due to brothers throwing drinks at Knight Library after the UCF v. FAU football game and threatening to jump someone that complained about their rowdy behavior. 

What: The problem is that the UCF Sigma Chi chapter continues to get suspended and cause damages to other facilities in the process. 

Who: UCF Sigma Chi chapter, Sigma Chi National Fraternity, UCF Office of Student Conduct, Isla Bella Beach Resort, Knight Library, the people that complained about their behavior.

Local Opportunities in Boone, North Carolina

The Watauga Democrat

3. Eleven students relocated after cooking fire

https://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/eleven-students-relocated-after-cooking-fire/article_95fb2d93-63fd-52f3-b64e-c09da5051e7f.html

Description: A small cooking fire broke out in the kitchen of an Appalachian State University residence hall, causing the sprinkler system to go off on that floor of the building. The entire residence hall (250 students) was evacuated. While there was no damage from the fire, there was water damage to some rooms on the floor and 11 students have been relocated to a different residence hall on campus temporarily. The university commented that the timing of their return to their original rooms will vary based on the amount of damage the room suffered. 

What: The problem is that eleven students were forced to relocate because of a small cooking fire that didn't cause any damages, but set off the sprinkler system, which resulted in water damage. 

Who: Appalachian State University, Appalachian State University Housing, Appalachian Heights residence hall, the residence hall the students moved to, the eleven students, the faculty that maintains Appalachain Heights residence hall.

4. Two men allegedly use counterfeit money at Gap store

https://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/two-men-allegedly-use-counterfeit-money-at-gap-store/article_49793211-7c4f-54b1-ac25-1b47a7051705.html

Description: Two unknown males went into a GAP outlet store on Parkway Road around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14 and purchased merchandise with four $100 counterfeit bills. High County Crime Stoppers and the Blowing Rock Police are still searching for the men that committed this crime and are looking for public help in identifying and locating the suspects. 

What: The problem is that the GAP outlet store in Blowing Rock has been robbed of merchandise and the police haven't identified or found the suspects yet.

Who: The GAP outlet store, Blowing Rock Police Department, the two suspects, the suspects' families, citizens of Blowing Rock.

Local Opportunities in Charleston, South Carolina

The Post and Courier

5. Editorial: No, we don’t need a less diverse, more divisive Charleston County School Board

https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-no-we-don-t-need-a-less-diverse-more/article_1dfc70b6-4394-11ea-8a0f-bf13cd5fe7b0.html

Description: The Charleston County School Board is being forced to run for re-election this November due to Bill H.5034 passed by the South Carolina House of Representatives. The bill requires all nine members of the School Board to run for re-election based on the single-member County Council Districts in hopes to increase minority representation. This bill will allow voters, who are unsatisfied with the current School Board's efforts to provide better education for poor children, to elect entirely new Board members. However, many voters disapprove of this bill because it doesn't seem fair to voters that elected the current School Board to a four-year term, which will now be cut short. 

What: The problem is that the current School Board's term of office is being cut short by the new policy in Bill H.5034. Another problem is that single-member county districts lead to a more divided School Board that can't properly focus on the issues of the whole community.

Who: The Charleston County Council, Charleston County School Board, South Carolina House of Representatives, students in Charleston, parents of students in Charleston, voters in Charleston.

Forming An Opportunity Belief

My Opportunity Belief

There are many potential opportunities that I could address, but I am picking one that every on-campus student at the University of Florida has experienced at some point: people (mostly students) that drive scooters erratically and dangerously around campus. I can even pull a real-life example of this opportunity from my memory in seconds. I witnessed a scooter rear-end a car stopped at a STOP sign because the driver of the scooter was going too fast and wasn't paying attention. 

There is an unmet need around UF, not to mention every other college campus or city where scooter riding is prominent, regarding the people that drive scooters. This has nothing to do with the demands of the scooter drivers, but instead the people that aren't driving scooters and experience the crazy terrible driving skills we can all attest to. The unmet need is pedestrian safety around campus and is experienced by every type of pedestrian including but not limited to: students, faculty, staff, tourists, non-college Gainesville residents, safe scooter drivers, etc. I've only been on campus for a little over a semester, but this need has been apparent from the start of my college career. However, I'm sure the unmet need arose as soon as scooters were popularized on college campuses. Currently, I don't see anything being done at UF about the safety hazard these scooters cause; scooter drivers still don't need a specialized license to operate their vehicle, which means drivers are being tested on whether they can safely and effectively drive a scooter. They also are not required to wear a helmet, which is a major safety precaution for street vehicles.  I'm 95% sure that this opportunity exists.

Interview Questions

1. What is the exact nature of the need? 
2. When do they become aware of the need -- that is, do they experience their need all the time or only sometimes? 
3. How long have they had the need? 
4. When did they first become aware of their need? Why? 
5. How are they currently addressing their need? 
6. How satisfied are they with this solution?

Interview 1: Student #1

1. The student doesn't believe the need exists because they're confined to the roads and have designated parking spots. He rides his bicycle often and never has problems with them. 
2. He experiences the need only occasionally but through the complaints of his friends. Apparently, his friend was hit by a scooter just the other day.  
3. A semester, which is how long he' been at college.
4. The student first became aware of this need during the third week of the Fall 2019 semester while he was riding his longboard, crossing the street and encountered a reckless driver.
5. He's not addressing it because he doesn't see it as a serious issue. 
6. Although they aren't addressing anything, the student says that they would be completely satisified with the helmet solution if it were to be implemented.

Reflection: This interview really opened my eyes to what I believed would be an unpopular opinion that I probably wouldn't encounter. The student's perspective that scooter drivers aren't a safety hazard *as long as they drive normally and aren't acting stupid* is very intriguing to me.  

Interview 2: Student #2

1. The need is definitely there but the frequency of the opportunity is questionable. The scooters drive normally most of the time and reckless driving only happens occasionally. 
2. They only become aware of the need when they experience it while commuting around campus, which is only sometimes. They say they have only experienced it several times since the beginning of Fall 2019.
3. They've had the need for two years, or since they came to UF. Before that, scooters weren't a frequent vehicle in her home town.
4. They've been aware of the need since experiencing it first at UF because merely by observing people driving scooters around she gets a sense of a safety hazard.
5. Currently, she's addressing her need by being careful while crossing the streets and around busy intersections.
6. They're mostly satisfied with this solution, although they say it would be ideal if a better system was in place, such as a licensing system specifically for scooters.

Reflection: This interview aligned more with my personal viewpoint regarding scooters on and around UF's campus. However, I still don't see the drive that I expected when it comes to the initiative for scooter law reform in licensing and requiring helmets. 

Interview 3: Student #3 (This student drives a scooter)

1. He says he would regard himself as a safe driver and doesn't see license and helmet reform as a necessary step to increasing scooter safety, but he definitely encounters many students that aren't properly informed on how to drive a scooter safely and need instruction.  
2. They experience the need mostly while driving their own scooter (although it is not them causing the need, it's other scooter drivers).
3. He says that he only really began noticing the people that drive recklessly once he began driving himself because then he had to pay more attention to scooters around him.
4. They first became aware of the need when they got their scooter and drove it around campus for the first time.
5. They currently address their need by driving carefully their self and avoiding crazy drivers in general. He added that he doesn't find himself consciously doing this often.
6. They're satisfied with the solution, but agree that generally, requiring a license specifically for scooters and also mandating a helmet would improve scooter safety greatly. 

Reflection: This student had an interesting perspective because I initially didn't think to include scooter drivers among the subjects that are experiencing the need. I went back and added them to get a better idea of the market. I thought this person also aligned with my personal views although not as strongly. 

Summary

Yes, my opportunity belief has indeed changed since I have conducted these interviews. I realized that the opportunity need is not as prominent as I expected and I would definitely correct my original statistic of 95% to probably 20 - 30% if that. The reason it dropped so much is that although most students will acknowledge that reform in the form of licenses and helmets would be beneficial to safety, they are overall content using their own solutions. Of course, the downside to licenses and helmets is that it still doesn't completely correct the issue of crazy drivers (as we can see with cars) and college students are just more wild in general so I'm not sure how much of an effect there would be. When I think about how I could adapt my opportunity to make it more accurate and the need to feel more present, it's definitely essential to listen to the feedback from customers. After all, they are the ones that will be buying or approving your product or idea so their opinion is crucial to alterations. If an entrepreneur doesn't adapt to the customer needs they will be ditched, left behind and replaced by someone else more willing to hear out the needs of everyone. 

My Entrepreneurial Story

Meeting an Entrepreneur

The first entrepreneurial experience I've had that pops into my mind is a very recent one.

I'm a brother of Delta Sigma Pi, an international co-ed business fraternity. As part of this fraternity, I have access to a huge depth of human capital when it comes to anything involving business. One of my brothers has been part of an entrepreneurial venture since his freshman year of college. His business is called Imprint Genius.

https://imprintgenius.com/

Imprint Genius is basically the middle man between companies that want to give away small items and the manufacturers of small items. For example, if you've ever been to Career Showcase, the companies there always have little trinkets that they're giving away. Maybe it's a pen, microfiber cloth, keychain, or cup. Imprint Genius connects the manufacturer of (for example) the cup with the companies that go to Career Showcase and give out cups to students. To further advertise his company, he imprints the logo of his company onto the items.

From what we've talked about he has gotten a lot out of this venture when it comes to experience. How many college freshmen have started a business and kept it running successfully for 4 straight years? Not many. Imprint Genius has contributed a lot to his professional development as well. He currently has accepted a full-time offer with Microsoft as a Business Project Manager, and he mentioned that one of the main talking points during his interviews was Imprint Genius.

Principles of Entrepreneurship

I enrolled in ENT 3003, Principles of Entrepreneurship, because it is a high-level elective course that I've heard is relatively easy. I also wanted to have 15 credits this semester and this class brought me from 12 to 15 credits. I'm not really interested in ever becoming an entrepreneur, so I'm definitely not taking the class for that reason. The content is mildly interesting to me, so so far I'm kinda neutral about it.

My Bug List

1. There's no crosswalk at a highly trafficked pedestrian crossing on Museum Road near Jennings Hall and the University Police Department.

Why? It costs more money to install crosswalks more frequently along roads.

2. People don't properly use the roundabouts in my community back home.

Why? Either they aren't aware that they are using the roundabouts incorrectly because they were never taught how to use them correctly or they don't care that they're using them incorrectly.

3. The ethernet cable in my dorm room doesn't connect my computer to the Internet.

Why? Most likely, the wiring is faulty, but it could also be that my ethernet cable or ethernet-to-USB adapter is broken.

4. Most highways around Gainesville are really dark at night because there are no street lights.

Why? It is expensive to maintain electricity to street lights, and the benefit is questionable if they aren't highly trafficked streets.

5. The food at Broward Dining Hall is too routine and bland.

Why? The meal plan is supposed to be an affordable option for students, but if the Dining Hall increased the variety and quality of their food they would be increasing the cost as well.

6. People (especially students) that drive scooters around campus drive erratically and dangerously.

Why? Scooter drivers don't need a specialized license to operate their vehicle, so those drivers aren't being tested on whether they can safely and effectively drive a scooter.

7. People chew with their mouths open.

Why? Either the people realize they're chewing loudly and don't care about the negative externality it causes or the people don't realize they're chewing loudly (maybe they have their headphones in and can't hear their own chewing).

8. People stick their gum underneath desks instead of throwing it away,

Why? Most likely because they're too lazy to get up and throw the gum away, but possibly because there's no trash can in the classroom.

9. When the clay on the baseball field hasn't been raked.

Why? The athletes or whoever maintains the field doesn't take the time and effort to clean up the field after they use it.

10. When drive-thru employees at fast-food restaurants are snappy and rude.

Why? Maybe because they are dissatisfied with their working conditions or they work long hours and are tired.

11. When I buy a piece of new clothing and it's broken.

Why? The company doesn't review their products for mistakes well enough before they stock them in their inventory.

12. When people walk to slow and block up the sidewalk.

Why? Most of the time that I encounter this "bug," it's because the person is on their phone and not paying attention to where they're walking.

13. When I place a large order at a fast-food restaurant and they don't get my order right.

Why? Because the employees aren't paying close enough attention to the items the prepare or pack into my order.

14. When people drive way too fast through small neighborhoods with frequent child traffic.

Why? There are not enough speed limit signs in smaller neighborhoods and people use these neighborhoods to shortcut their routes.

15. When I find hair in my food at any restaurant.

Why? Because the chefs don't wear hairnets.

16. When my girlfriend's car is dirty whenever I have to drive it.

Why? She doesn't regularly clean the trash from the inside of her car unless I really get onto her about it.

17. When the A/C units in the UF dorm rooms get moldy.

Why? Because filters aren't changed enough and students are allowed to change the temperature of their room, causing a fluctuation in the humidity which can cause mold to grow.

18. When I go to the grocery store and the items on my list are out of stock or they are discontinued.

Why? Because the inventory only gets restocked every so often and the grocery store discontinues items that aren't in high enough demand.

19. When people leave their clothes in the washers and dryers after they have finished washing and drying.

Why? Because they don't take their clothes out right after they finish washing and drying (which you would think they would want to do because the clothes would get smelly or wrinkled).

20. When my roommate opens the window in my dorm room and lets humid air into the room.

Why? Either because he feels like the A/C isn't enough or the room smells like ramen and he feels the need to get rid of that smell.

Reflection

Coming up with 10 of these "bugs," much less 20, was difficult for me. When it boils down to it, it's hard to think of things I'm bugged by because most often I encounter something and disregard it. I usually don't take action regarding the thing that's bugging me and therefore the thought of it temporarily gets forgotten until the next time I encounter it. It would be much easier to write this list if I could do it over an expanse of time, rather than in one sitting. This just goes to show that there are a lot of opportunities out there that get overlooked on a day-to-day basis, but creating a "bug list," while challenging, definitely helps enlighten those opportunities and makes me critically think why they are happening.

Jordan's First Test Post

Test. 1.2.3. Test