"Tonight was awesome."

Jasper Chumba '19 | Software Engineering Major | Electrical Engineering Minor | Entrepreneurship

Hometown | Eldoret, Kenya

Tonight was awesome. After a long and fruitful session at Bullpen Capital, we headed for our last session at the Nasdaq center. At the center we (the LehighSiliconValley students) were scheduled to meet and interact with the Lehigh Board of Trustees and other guests that mostly included Lehigh alumni & alumna. In the center, we were treated with food and refreshments; a small conversations among students and the guests in attendance picked up and people were clustering in small groups of 2-5.

I was personally shy at first and I was only talking to my fellow students but after a couple minutes I got out of my comfort zone and started talking to people I had never met before. It was amazing how every person I talked to related to me in one way in a unique way; they either had the same career aspiration, knew/had visited my country (Kenya), or just loved warm weather! One alumna I talked to had graduated from Lehigh as an electrical engineer over 40 years ago; I was glad to learn that some things like senior year project (capstones) have not changed that much over the years. I was able to exchange contact information (mostly connected via Linkedin) with a few individuals and I am glad that I now have a greater network.

My final highlight of the night was learning how the relationship between Lehigh and Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center begun. President Simon talked briefly how he and Lehigh leadership team saw it fit to create this partnership to help Lehigh University and its students to continue to develop their entrepreneurial interests. The Nasdaq Center has a really cool public space in the main entrance area and I encourage any one visiting San Fransisco to check it out and probably utilize the space.