UIUC Academy

Problem

Every semester, freshman who we believe are great fits for the H4I community are rejected from the organization due to a lack of experience. As a result, we lose the opportunity to expand our community when these freshman choose not to interview with us again in following semesters. We also do not want to seem as a super-selective organization that selectively looks for only upperclassmen. This is simply false. A huge part of H4I lies in our mentorship initiatives and providing a great community. By denying freshman entry, we both lose the ability to utilize our mentorship initiatives to the fullest as well as discourage like minded from entering our organization.

Solution

Every semester, freshman who we believe are great fits for the H4I community are rejected from the organization due to a lack of experience. As a result, we lose the opportunity to expand our community when these freshman choose not to interview with us again in following semesters. We also do not want to seem as a super-selective organization that selectively looks for only upperclassmen. This is simply false. A huge part of H4I lies in our mentorship initiatives and providing a great community. By denying freshman entry, we both lose the ability to utilize our mentorship initiatives to the fullest as well as discourage like minded from entering our organization.

This semester is a pilot semester for UIUC Academy, figuring out how we can provide as much resources as possible to new members who we believe will be great fits for the H4I community. We spent the first half of the semester teaching the basics of many technologies used in H4I and across industries to both Academy members and H4I members. We spent the second half of the semester utilizing what we learned to create a UIUC Carpool web application.