Exploring Project Passions

What an exciting first week with GE students in Berlin!

The classroom has been buzzing with energy as teams have created passion maps, oriented towards understanding where their hearts' goals meet the needs of a certain community or industry. Together in their groups, students have identified the "Big Challenge," in the form of a focused, long-term goal, driving their start-up's efforts. On Friday, students began learning how to conduct effective market research and use this information to refine the part of the problem they wish to address. 

Students visited a Start-up Incubator hosted by the Berlin School of Economics and Law, a creative community where ideas, concepts and prototypes are imagined and born. They got to see first-hand how entrepreneurs were leveraging AI to aid the visually impaired and blind individuals. The focus centered on the Lean Startup Method, where idea development was on high speed, with low resources and constant verification. Great questions were asked by all, and students learned that failing early and often was actually an essential part of the entire process! 

In their first German class, student enjoyed learning key vocabulary to help them as they navigate Berlin city and culture. And on Thursday evening, GE teamed up with Engineering students to view a live showing of the Denmark-England Euro 2024 football match. Even though the match ended in a lackluster draw, we all had a great time meeting new friends.

On Friday, students visited the Humana Second-Hand Vintage retail store to view the business with a behind-the-scenes customer lens. There were some unique finds and some enjoyed pairing up for a "Fit challenge," to see who could find the "fittest" outfit to model for the group.