Hunter College High School '16 This blog details my experience in the NYC GenerationTech summer program of 2014. NYC GenTech is a program that merges technology and entrepreneurship and allows high school students to develop skills in programming, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
It’s been quite a while since I last posted. Since then, a lot has happened. Mentoring sessions officially began and we’ve visited Deloitte, LivePerson, and AlleyNYC. We had our first meeting at Warby Parker last night. All the venues were great and I really appreciate the food these spaces have provided us. I’m especially thankful for the backpack and notebook set from LivePerson—thank you so much for your thoughtfulness.
We have grown much stronger as a company and various changes have been instilled in the branding of our company. MTAlarm has finalized its logo and cover photo on social media.
On Facebook, we’re doing well with 219 likes and having reached 1,400 people through our posts. To help promote MTAlarm, we decided to launch a mini series of animated videos featuring each member of the MTAlarm team using MTAlarm in unique ways. The introductory video and first episode featuring Trina Dhar have been released on YouTube so dear readers, please take the time to support MTAlarm!
Introductory Video
MTAlarm Mini Series Ep 1
A big part of this competition is the business plan so my team and I have been working hard on perfecting the business plan with our mentors. For the most part, our business plan is solid except for a few issues here and there in the financials segment. Other than those issues, however, I can say we’ve accomplished a lot in this past month or so. I’m so proud of the MTAlarm team! Again, super thankful to be working with these wonderful munchkins.
I’m currently working on a wireframe that could serve as MTAlarm’s first working prototype via a cloud-based prototyping software called Proto.io. I’m not completely finished with the prototype but I work alongside Kelvin, our lead engineer, so I’ll make sure I do not lag behind Kelvin and delay our coding process. Our prototype has been well received by the people we have displayed it to so that’s a plus. I plan to gather more data tomorrow with a few other members as we survey people on the streets asking them to complete certain tasks using our prototype. Hopefully, the data we collect is useful as we’ll continue to develop from there.
With only less than a month left before competition night, I’m really looking forward to see MTAlarm’s birth as we continue to work hard through the remainder of this month. Of course, none of this would have been possible if not for our amazing AppNexus mentors so my gratitude to Carlos, Erin, Jared, Mark, Meg, and Sheri! And then there’s Hope, a rising sophomore at Barnard College, who’s been with our team since bootcamp and has devoted so much of her time to aide and guide us in the creation of MTAlarm. Thank you, Hope!
To end things, here's a picture of the MTAlarm team and mentors at Deloitte!
Happy travels!
- Michelle Zhou
You guys know that super cliché quote, “You don’t know what you have ‘til it’s gone”? Well, I knew what I had; I just didn’t expect it to end so soon. These past two weeks were truly amazing. I really didn’t expect that I would come to love the people and environment so much. Everyone has so much ambition and drive and seeing these dedicated individuals collaborating with one another was simply beautiful. Looking back, I really miss waking up at 7 every morning and having two bagels for breakfast.
I had expressed my disappointment in giving up my app idea in the previous post but throughout this week, the initial disappointment had disappeared and been replaced by a new ambition to develop my group’s idea, MTAlarm. First and foremost, I’m really thankful for being able to work with this wonderful team of brilliant people and having the best TA ever (not to say the other TAs aren’t great) helping us out. I feel like we have really come a long way, from complete strangers to friends who joke around and have fun doing what we love. So thank you, GenTech. Thank you for giving me this unforgettable experience and the chance to be a part of the GenTech family.
And with that, GenTech Boot Camp 2014 officially ends, but the memories of these past two weeks lives on. Awaiting my team and me is a new chapter of our journey toward success.
For the 30 second pitch on Friday, I thought I had come up with a brilliant idea, DesignAR: an interior design app that made use of augmented reality to allow users to seamlessly layout and redesign rooms at the touch of their fingertips. It seemed flawless at the time—surveys testified my hypotheses about market demand, friends were super excited about the idea, yadayadayada. And then there was reality. Reality was, no one was as interested in interior design as I was (To ~80% of the group whose ideas were ultimately tossed aside for the better good of the group: We are the true martyrs!). Reality was, I couldn’t be my own group. Reality was, I don’t know how to write the code for augmented reality and neither did the rest of my peers. So ditching my idea, I formed into a group with 4 other very intelligent individuals and we decided to create MTAlarm, an application that adjusts user set alarms accordingly based on subway/bus delay data. Super cool idea, I’m really forward to working on this app and collaborating with my other teammates (Go MTAlarm!!!). As for DesignAr, as long as I’m passionate about this idea, putting it aside for the time being certainly doesn’t equate to saying goodbye. So a really big thank you to everyone who critiqued, complimented, and simply listened to my idea and watch out for MTAlarm because we’ll totally be the next big thing.
I totally skipped this but highlight of the week: I created a mini-me using Shapeway’s ShapeMe software and made myself look like some extraterrestrial object . 3D printed mini-Michelle will be arriving soon and I’ll definitely keep you guys posted!! Also congrats Germany!!! (Even though Messi will always hold a special place in my heart).
Hi all, Michelle Zhou here. I've never blogged traditionally before, but I guess this marks the beginnings of my journey through the Tumblr world. I'm a rising junior at Hunter College High School and this summer, I am very privileged to be a participant of the NYC GenTech program.
Today was the first day of the program and it has been a phenomenal experience thus far. The program took place at LIU Brooklyn and the day began with basic self-introductions and general information about the program. I walked into the classroom without any prior knowledge about business and entrepreneurship but by lunchtime, I had learned so much ranging from the arrival and success of the technology industry in NYC to the methodologies of converting simple ideas into intricate businesses. There was definitely a lot of information to be absorbed, but my experiences thus far have been amazing and utmost rewarding.
I’m really grateful that GenTech pushed us into exploring the technology industry and expanding our networks via tech meetups and community events because after the boot camp ended today, I attended the Story Design for Games Intro Talk held at the Microsoft office. Not only was the talk highly educational and enlightening, I was also able to meet a man who shared my passions and interests for Role-Playing games and Massive Multiplayer Online games. This talk definitely set the precedent for future tech events because the ideas that were exchanged and the people I had encountered during the event were so valuable to my development in the technology sector.
I truly believe this program will unlock my potential and inspire me to find afield I’m truly passionate about. As of right now, I look forward to learning the various coding languages and the logistics of converting small ideas into large businesses. All in all, today’s experience was truly remarkable and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s class!
