Experience

Brittanica defines entrepreneurship as “[T]he state of being an entrepreneur, or a person who organizes, manages, and assumes the risk of a business with the goal of generating economic value.” However, I prefer another definition they list which is “The term is derived from the Old French verb entreprendre, ‘to undertake.’”

Often, the word entrepreneurship invokes images of a panel of investors and someone presenting a pitch asking for investment, like Shark Tank. But, pitching ideas is not limited to economic profit. Like CJ (my GCSP advisor) commented, “The payout is just something different than money.”

Ideas can be pitched in exchange for change.

For this reason, I decided to take a different approach to the Entrepreneurship Pillar for GCSP. Instead of designing and pitching a product, I took the initiative to organize and pitch a protest at Mines. This protest was part of the National/Global protest called Stand Up for Science.

Stand Up for Science was formed near the beginning of February 2025, but it was inspired by a protest organization from 2017 called March for Science. 

A group of graduate students, obviously distressed by the damaging executive orders Trump signed, came together to organize a movement.

So how did I get involved? 

When the president was sworn in, I initially removed myself from the news. I knew things I didn’t agree with were going to get passed and I didn’t want to waste my energy over something that couldn’t be changed. For a while, this worked. I could get sporadic updates on the news but my mental headspace was more focused on graduating and graduate school. This changed during the visiting weekend at Caltech in February. Here, I talked with other admitted students, and politics was brought up. I made the comment that I’ve been ignoring politics, and I received some pretty negative reactions from those I was talking about. To the point where one called me “childish” and another said avoiding politics was “sinful.” While I don’t believe this was the best way for them to go about convincing me to catch up on the news, I think this was the wake-up call I needed. I started to read the news daily, and something new happened every day. Then I started checking multiple times a day and, weirdly enough, something new was on the news every time I checked. Unfortunately, the need to feel updated became obsessive. From not reading the news before February, I was now constantly reading the news and becoming angry. Very angry. I am disappointed that even if the current administration doesn’t believe in science or treating people as human, smaller organizations like schools, local governments, and individuals comply with this exclusive mindset. These national decisions are not normal, not ethical, and not humane.

But what am I to do? I’m a student. I can try to call my local representatives but I’m limited by time. I can try to organize a movement, but starting from just myself would feel like shouting into a void. I can try to have discussions with my peers, but I often get an uncomfortable response that they’re not really into politics. I can share things on social media with people who follow me, but those who disagree with me just unfollow me, and those who agree like the post–there’s no change in mindset, just a confirmation of where people stand.

I felt frustrated. Too many issues to stand up against, the problem feels larger than I can handle, and again the question is asked–what can I do as an individual? Can change really be carried through, me, doing something?

As I was looking into different protest groups on Instagram, I came across a Stand Up for Science post and read about their movement. I was intrigued. This movement had a defined list of goals they were fighting for, and they set a date for the protest they would have in Washington D.C.. Checking their website, I saw other groups across the country and in Europe were organizing walkouts and protests. Scrolling into Colorado, I saw protests in Boulder, Fort Collins, and Denver, but not Golden. As Mines is an engineering school–and I was upset by the unjust acts that happen every day–I knew something had to be organized.

Having never organized a protest before, I was a little intimidated and confused about where to start. As a result, I decided to reach out to groups about their experience. While the Stand Up for Science organizers did not reach back out to me, I did get an email back from one local organization group.

This group is called Indivisible, and the correspondence is found below.

With this encouragement, I registered CSM with the StandUpForScience Organization, registered the protest with the school, created flyers and placards, and created an Instagram page to get the word out. These materials are shown below.

Few days before the Walkout: March 4th

Trump threatens to deport students for "illegal protests"

Day of the Walkout: March 7th

Application

This experience demonstrated to me that movements can start—and be carried—by an individual. I was intimidated by organizing this event because I wasn’t sure if anyone would attend. But through this event, I realized that it can take just one person speaking up to inspire a collective movement. Instead of waiting for someone else to take action, we must all strive to advocate for what is right.

I have a passion for teaching and research, but I feel most fulfilled when helping others and learning more about the world we all live in. Based on the typical definition of entrepreneurship, I would not consider myself an entrepreneur. I want a livable income, but I don’t feel the need to sell ideas for a profit. However, through this exploration, I’ve come to see that entrepreneurship is not limited to that definition. In fact, the traits of an entrepreneur are critical to academia. Whether it’s writing a grant proposal, delivering a research presentation, or teaching students a new concept, the “what, how, and why” are essential for securing project funding, for disseminating results, and for gaining student buy-in during lessons. Organizing a protest helped me view the entrepreneurial mindset from a new perspective.

Once again, reflecting on how this experience relates to the grand challenge of sustainability, I see that this issue cannot be solved without an entrepreneurial mindset. Even if a seemingly great idea is presented, why should anyone care? Even if it affects one group, why should someone who is not affected care? As a future researcher and teacher, I must always consider the "why" behind a research project or lesson. In developing new sustainable solutions, communities must be involved, and community involvement begins with community buy-in. So, I agree with CJ: the payout is something different than money. It's change.