Come the last week of August, the StartUp Learning Community will be thrilled to welcome its latest cohort of 64 students to our amazing renovated floor in Sellery Hall. For over 15 years, StartUp residents—a self-selected group of freshman with a professed interest in launching big ideas—have had the opportunity to live and learn together. This year, they should be able to do it without the constant whirl of construction!
StartUp’s home since its inception, Sellery Residence Hall, which opened in 1963, is nearing the end of a major renovation over a three-year span to improve the resident spaces and upgrade the facilities, including those proprietary to the Learning Communities. And things are just about done. The construction has made both daily life and programming difficult in Sellery for the past few years, but there is no question, the renovations have been worth the wait!
Students who are part of the community for the 2023-24 academic year will now get to take part in late night brainstorming sessions in both our newly constructed two-floor lounge as well as our renovated, private “StartUp Only” den. They’ll also have the opportunity to enroll in our StartUp exclusive seminar, and head out on site visits to Madison’s premier entrepreneurship spaces. Our 2023-24 cohort will apply (without the near-constant buzz of jackhammers) for Dream Big grants that will help them launch ventures right from the10B floor. And come November, we expect the majority of students in StartUp to participate in one of the Learning Community’s signature programs—the 100-Hour Challenge. An “entry-level” UW-Madison entrepreneurial contest that is popular with students from all disciplines and backgrounds, the 100-Hour Challenge invites teams of students to use common household objects they can find in their freshened up dorm rooms to come up with a new product prototype in 100 hours or less.
The wait was hard, but the new digs are SO worth it. We can’t wait for all of our residents to have the chance to “Dream Big” in a clean, modern (and not TOO noisy) space.
StartUp is always looking for ways to connect its current residents with alumni in the entrepreneurship community. If you are interested in becoming more involved, feel free to contact Faculty Director John Surdyk at john.surdyk@wisc.edu or Program Manager Sari Judge at sari.judge@housing.wisc.edu.
Categories: