Keli Vitaioli
vitaioli@grinnell.edu

The Wilson Program is fostering leadership and innovation opportunities through Pioneer Weekend 2.0 on April 8-10.  The event lasts the weekend and allows teams of three to six students to develop start-up ideas and prototypes while receiving feedback from alumni innovators with the opportunity to win cash prizes.

This is Grinnell’s second Pioneer Weekend—the first was sponsored in part by App Dev in 2014. This year, Pioneer Weekend 2.0 is sponsored in part by the Wilson Program Leadership Committee, a new addition to the program.

“Pioneer Weekend 2.0 fits into the Wilson program goals of providing more leadership and innovation on campus,” said Ajuna Kyaruzi ’17, a member of the Wilson Program Committee. “Students get to exercise that muscle that they don’t use quite as often.”

Kyaruzi has also been forerunning the planning for Pioneer Weekend 2.0. The committee is made up of alumni and works to create connections and involve alumni in what is happening on campus.   

“Pioneer Weekend is on this coming weekend because that is when the Leadership Council will also be meeting on campus,” said Professor Monty Roper, Anthropology, who has helped organize the event. “They will be introduced as possible mentors and judges … and [the judges] will work with different groups to provide advice on the projects they’re developing. On Sunday, a subset of that group will be the ones judging the final projects.”

The alumni judges all come bearing serious resumes, with even some CEOs and COOs among them. Along with the opportunity to network with alumni, the weekend offers increased communication amongst the Grinnell community. Roper said the event will be a great opportunity for cross-major collaboration among students.

“Students are independently coming up with ideas [working] in small groups where you have people with different interdisciplinary perspectives,” Roper said. “This really highlights the value of liberal arts to innovation and to getting ideas developed.”

Pioneer Weekend 2.0 gives students the chance to bring the own ideas to fruition with the support of their peers. Kyaruzi hopes the event will see students combining their Grinnell passion for social justice with their business innovation.

“It’s a chance to say, ‘I have an idea that I want to do a start-up with but not sure if it’s viable. I don’t know if anyone would actually want to put money into this, and I don’t know if anyone thinks it’s cool.’ … Then students can get that reassurance from mentors that work in the field and other college students. If you come up with something for students and they like it — that’s great.”