Friday marks the end of my second week at the two internships I’m tackling this summer, and the first week in which all of the ISSUP interns with UCI Applied Innovation were present.
A great part of the ISSUP internship is that we get to explore the business and entrepreneurial ecosystem surrounding UCI. This week, we toured UCI’s campus and visited Column 5, a company that consults with and creates marketing and visual design products for companies.
As an intern group, we also get together to do fun things. On Thursday, we stayed late to watch Zootopia in the Beach, a 270° viewing room at the center of the Cove.
Sebastian, Crystal, and I headed to Chick-fil-A to grab some dinner before the viewing, which gave us time to get to know each other better. Sebastian and Crystal and part of the Track 3 ISSUP program, which means that they’re building their own businesses this summer. Sebastian is creating a really cool deployable shield that would provided police and military with an easy-to-use and purely defensive weapon, while Crystal’s Guardian Locket has already garnered national attention for its combination of aesthetically pleasing jewelry and an integrated panic button to provide young women a stylish sense of security.
Because the front receptionist, Kathy, was gone for the week, all the interns took turns helping manage the front while also working on their respective projects. Although keeping track of everyone, handling a myriad of requests, and trying to finish discerning trends in the analytics data isn’t easy, I did get the opportunity to chat with a lot of people coming in from all around Southern California. By the end of the shift, my wallet was filled with a few more business cards.
At Chicklabs, I worked on creating materials to expedite the expansion of Immuno-gum, and started to explore several possible projects that the team is looking to add to the portfolio. Stay tuned for new week to find out what new businesses I’m going to build!
Andrew Jabara 