Over spring break, I finalized what I have been working on since 6th grade, my nail art/manicuring business. In 6th grade, I started doing nail art and in Freshman year, I created a small Instagram and mini business run from my house called the Purple Rain Nail Salon. I would invite family and friends to my house and charge at most $25 for a full set of nail art. I was unlicensed and had no technique besides what the small kits said to do. Today, although I do not have my nail technician license, I have worked with 3 nail technicians who own their own small businesses. These people have been Rain from A Touch of Rain Nail Salon, Lyndsey from La Bella Delle Rose Salon, and lastly, Dawn Quintana from Quintana's. Over the years, I have learned so much from these wonderful ladies and am ready to start my own business officially. Throughout spring break, I talked with many of these technicians and finalized my brand. I created an email, Instagram, logo, business cards, and an official price list. All of this will be the foundation of my salon, and I will continue to add more as the years go by. I plan on getting my license this summer and going completely public then. Right now, I am the current owner and founder of the Rain or Shine Nail Salon. I specialize in all forms of nail art and provide many services including Gel-X extensions and regular gel polish. I am stationed at my house but I am able to bring all of my equipment to others houses, especially if they are unable to leave. All of this and more, including examples of my work, will be featured at the Vector Exhibition! 

During my second semester of Junior year, I participated in the class Venture. With many people from the Management and Entrepreneurship class, we were able to add many aspects and ideas to Sip O' Som and Gilmour Gear. During the class, we prepared to run Sip O' Som every Wednesday and add Gilmour gear to some of the shops. We added many drinks and ideas for Sip O' Som and created design ideas for Gilmour Gear. Throughout this experience, I was able to learn a lot about the financials of small businesses and was CEO for 3 weeks when the seniors left. I helped run the whole shop with Jack and took full control of the financials. It was my favorite class ever and I would take it every single year if I could. 

For my first semester of Junior year, I took the management and entrepreneurship class with Ms. White. We watched many videos and learned about the 7 different mindsets of entrepreneurs. We learned from many guest speakers and had many small projects relating to beginning entrepreneurs. We were able to see what parts we liked about being in business and as a final project, we worked as a team to create a new idea. In my group, we had many struggles but learned from all of our mistakes. I had a lot of fun with this class and highly recommend it. 

In this class, we plan out our lives in the future right after college. We find jobs, rent apartments, buy cars, and go through everything we will do in the future. We take field trips to places and look at where we will be financially when we are in our 20s and beyond. By doing this, we learn how to save, invest, and plan for our economic future. At the end of the course, we will have a hypothetical plan for our future lives and show how our economic status has changed and how it will change. We read chapters of many different books about the topics we learn and we make financials and worldly economics really fun! It's like the class everyone asks for that shows you how to buy a house, invest, and pay taxes. I am so glad I am taking this class this year!

We all met as a cohort and talked about the program. We told stories of our experiences and what programs we enjoyed most! At the end of the meeting, the seniors stayed behind to talk about our plans for our capstone projects. I shared my plan to intern at a nail salon with the owner and officially start my business for my senior project. 

Every Wednesday after class, I would stay and help with Sip O' Som. I would help set up, clean up, and help run the shop. At the start of the year, I would serve hot drinks and track what we sold. I learned the importance of tracking and how to keep up with a busy shop. As time went on, I started taking the cash payments. I discovered that having two iPads and two card readers helped the line go by faster. With the seniors gone, I had to reach out to others to see if they wanted to volunteer. I greatly enjoy the whole experience and can't wait to see what happens for Sip O' Som next year!

I do not remember the exact date but at the beginning of the school year, I changed cohorts. It was a rough process but I was able to transfer everything and meet my new mentor. When we met, I told Ms. White about my previous interests and why I changed cohorts. I explained why I wanted to learn about business and how I plan to open my own salon. I was able to join the Management and Entrepreneurship class that semester and learned about all of the interesting new courses I could enroll in. I was very excited about my future in this cohort and am so glad I transferred. 

I would go to Rain's salon every week and shadow her and her employees. She is the owner of her own Nail Salon business and also works there as a nail technician as well. When I graduate, I hope to open my own nail salon so this is a wonderful experience to see what my future career will be like. When I shadow her, I watch how she gives manicures and she lets me try some too. It is really fun and I learn a lot. She always answers my questions and lets me take notes. She lets me stay until close and she shows me the behind-the-scenes of how she runs the business. Over the summer when I get my nail technician license, she will allow me to work there part-time and show me everything and let me help run the business during college. I am so excited to keep working at this salon to learn more about how to perform manicures and how to run my own nail salon. 

I helped out with the coffee shop at Gilmour 3 times during community block. The first time, I helped pass out hot coffee. I also brought a cart around filled with coffee and tea to teachers at the end of Community Block. During the second one, I helped serve iced tea and talked to the people in line. I also helped clean up the room and prepare it for the next class. The last time I helped out, I watched the door and told people that we were only accepting certain forms of payment. After this, I helped serve iced tea. To finish everything, I helped clean up everything and rearranged the desks to fit the next class. 

As a class, the students in Management and Entrepreneurship traveled to John Caroll for Think Fest. It was very enjoyable and I learned a lot. When we got there, we were placed at tables with people from different schools. There were two students from the same school at each table and the rest were completely new. To start, we heard a guest speaker and did introductions. We then learned about this inventor and entrepreneur who created many unique products people use/eat daily. He had a wonderfully interactive and exciting presentation. All throughout the presentation, he called on volunteers to demonstrate different things he then related back to being an inventor. It was very cool to see connections I never would have thought of on my own. He also gave us a packet to fill out during the presentation with many fun activities like creating new words from existing ones to name certain products. After the presentation, he had us complete one final activity with our table groups. He gave us two Pringles containers that we had to create into a new invention. It was very exhilarating thinking of new ideas and inventions with just a couple of pringles cans. For my table, we created a portable device that could charge your phone and play music anywhere you would want to. We connected solar pannels and speakers to bring our idea to life. Once we all created our ideas, we got to pitch them to a pannel and see who the judges liked the best. It was an amazing experience and I really hope that I can go again soon!

During Community Block, guest speaker Doan Winkel from John Carol came to speak to us. He is an entrepreneur and teacher at John Carol. He told us all about the college process, the classes he is offering, and what to look out for in life. He gave us a nice packet so we would not forget what we learned. His speech was not based on entrepreneurship, but more on our lives in the future. He focused on doing what we love as a job and what to look out for in college. I personally did not mind this, but to the others that came specifically for entrepreneurship, it was a little disappointing. He gave some very good advice about how we should find our purpose and interests and focus our lives around that so we are happy later in life. I did not like, however, how he kept saying that our college counselors were lying and that we should not try to get good grades. It was a very concerning thing to hear because I have worked very hard to maintain a 4.2 GPA all throughout high school and hearing him say this made me think that it means nothing. Other than saying grades are of no importance, he did give good advice about how we should make connections in college because those connections could help us further discover our interests and give us the support we need to succeed. The last thing I want to mention is how he said that we don't need to major in anything in college because if we have a master's in entrepreneurship, the businesses we are applying to won't care and will only see a piece of paper. This really upset me and made me question my school-life decisions. I am very unhappy about most of the things that he said but did overall enjoy the experience. He was very nice and relatable and did have some good advice. I do not think that I would attend his session again, but I am glad I attended. 

We started the meeting by talking about if I was working on anything special lately. We discussed my idea for a real, working, life-sized, pinball machine. I started to make some of the parts in 3D Modeling and Fabrication out of plastic, and I plan on making the whole body out of wood that will have been laser cut. We also discussed ways to get into the right college. When applying to a competitive engineering school, it might be best if I apply for a different interest not involving engineering, and later transfer into engineering. That way, there will be a greater possibility of getting accepted. We also discussed that already having exposure to engineering risks and challenges will look better to colleges. When looking at new students, they want to accept a student that will not crumble under pressure and be able to handle what comes next in their career. Next, we discussed what classes I should take and what I should do about my 40 hours. While taking 3D Modeling and Fabrication is amazing and planning to take Into to Mechanical Engineering is wonderful, I should also try to take some sort of Intro to Programming class. Coding is involved in nearly every engineering project, and being exposed to code before college will have major benefits in the long run. I should also look into spring college fairs downtown and other experiences that could better my understanding of engineering. By attending these fairs, I will be able to meet new people interested in engineering and related fields that would be beneficial to know and have in my career. By knowing people in many different fields of engineering, we will be able to share ideas and knowledge to someday create something with many different fields of engineering involved. I had a lot of fun during the meeting, and am excited to sign up for classes and summer/spring opportunities!

During community block, I met with a few other Gilmour students, Mrs. Ligas, and two representatives from the Upcycle Parts Shop. They talked about how they started their business and their whole initiative. It was really cool to see that they started a non-profit organization where they donate all of the money that they make. They receive donations of used art supplies and random things that they, or other people, can re-use and make into something beautiful. After their presentation, they showed us a bunch of fun used parts and craft supplies we could use. They wanted us to create a business idea, a representation of what we plan to sell, and what kind of cause or initiative we would donate to. I created a business idea for a company that would make toys out of upcycled plastic. My cause was to raise awareness to how much damage plastic can have to the environment, especially in the ocean. All of the money raised would go towards funding to get rid of all of the plastic in the oceans. Lastly, the product I created was a little turtle made out of plastic and a jellyfish made out of plastic and rubber bands. I really liked the whole experience and it was really inspiring to see a non-profit business all about selling super cheap crafting supplies. I really hope that they can come back next year because they were one of my favorite guest speakers this year!