Exploring Entrepreneurship at Winterim
Lewis & Clark’s Winterim is an opportunity to explore entrepreneurship from the ground up during a weeklong session over winter break.
Prior entrepreneurial experience or an idea required? No.
Motivation, curiosity, and commitment to fully participate required? Yes.
Lewis & Clark’s Winterim is an opportunity to explore entrepreneurship from the ground up during a weeklong session over winter break. Working in small teams, students identify a problem, research and develop a solution, and take part in a pitch competition on the final day. Along the way, they are assisted by off-campus leaders and professionals—many of them alumni—who serve as speakers, mentors, and judges.
This year, a record 30 students from all corners of the globe participated along with 40 for-profit and nonprofit leaders. The event is hosted by the John E. and Susan S. Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership.
“Winterim is designed to challenge students to grow in who they are, what they know, and whom they know,” says Chrys Hutchings, the center’s associate director of programming and partnerships. “It’s a great opportunity for our students to start building their professional networks—I think of it as networking on steroids.”
At this year’s event, students participated in 10 workshops on a variety of topics, including liberal arts and the future of work; innovation; the art of the sale; researching market size and competition; productivity and decision making; communicating a story; and personal financial literacy.
“I entered Winterim completely unaware of what the week had in store, but I walked out of the program more well-rounded, confident, and aware of the realm of entrepreneurship,” says Jackson Thein BA ’18, a biochemistry and molecular biology major. “I firmly believe that entrepreneurship and leadership go hand in hand with the liberal arts experience.”
