Parents and students have asked us many times if Prequel's Summer Program (formerly BETA Camp) is the way to go if you are interested in pursuing a STEM-focused career, including medicine or engineering. We are here to answer this question. But before that, let us tell you that STEM-focused students have an unfair advantage because their technical skills do matter.
What is Prequel's Summer Program?
Prequel's Summer Program is an online program in which leaders and experts from all industries teach students from all over the world real-life entrepreneurial and problem-solving skills. At Prequel, students are guided through a boot camp that ends with them creating their own revenue-generating startup. This hands-on approach to learning entrepreneurship is unique.
Why is Prequel useful for students interested in pursuing STEM careers?
Prequel's Summer Program is valuable for students pursuing STEM careers because it fills the gaps that traditional STEM education misses. It teaches important life skills such as management, leadership, teamwork, creative problem-solving, and marketing your talents and ideas. These soft skills are essential for success in any STEM field.
Students eager to pursue STEM careers find immense value in Prequel because traditional STEM education often misses the mark on teaching soft skills and over-fixates on the theoretical side. Prequel provides this practical application of knowledge.
Benefits of building a startup and learning entrepreneurship for STEM students
Building a startup and learning entrepreneurship is valuable for students pursuing STEM careers because these hands-on projects allow them to develop skills that are useful in all career paths. Entrepreneurial experience enhances a STEM student's profile.
- Problem-solving skills:
Starting a business requires identifying a problem and finding a solution. This helps students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are valuable in any field, especially in complex STEM challenges.
- Innovation:
Entrepreneurship encourages thinking outside the box and coming up with creative solutions to problems. This benefits students in STEM fields, where innovation is often key to making breakthroughs. - Leadership and management skills:
Starting a business requires managing and leading a team, and many STEM students will eventually become managers and leaders. So, practicing leadership and management skills helps them prepare for the future.
- Networking and communication skills:
Building a startup requires networking and communicating with various stakeholders, including investors and customers. So, communication skills are valuable for STEM students to present their research or work to others effectively. - Business acumen:
Many breakthroughs and inventions in science and technology are commercialized and turned into products or services. So, understanding business market needs and how to generate revenue and secure funding is another bonus for students in STEM fields.
Why STEM students thrive in Prequel's Summer Program?
Students from a STEM background are often leagues ahead of non-STEM students in research and hypothesis testing. Working in science means being constantly presented with new ideas and concepts. The entrepreneurial mindset students develop at Prequel's Summer Program allows them to seek novel ways to apply that knowledge to real-world problems.
Prequel takes a strategic approach to inspire its students to create something new. Instead of being confined to a lab or a book, Prequel creates an opportunity for the students to take part in the real-life application of the things they have made and, therefore, develop ways to improve any aspect of the experience. This focus on applied learning is a key differentiator.
Examples of Prequel students thriving in STEM fields
Prequel's Summer Program has instructors from all the leading companies worldwide. Like Shreeya, many of our alumni have regarded Prequel as an enriching experience that has helped them immensely in their future STEM careers. Prequel alumni's success stories speak massive volumes.
Let’s look at some more examples of Prequel alumni pursuing STEM-related higher education and careers.
Nora Treleaven
After graduating from BETA Camp, Nora began a competitive dual degree program at the best health science undergraduate program in Canada. She also has multiple medical designs and innovations under her belt.
Her innovations and contributions to modifying and customizing existing features in medical tools to improve them are a testament to her extraordinary business acumen and entrepreneurial mindset, skills honed at Prequel.
Kyne Wang
Kyne is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management.
He is interested in utilizing his dual degree program (Finance at the Wharton School and Biology at the School of Arts and Sciences), combining neuroscience with business to create early-stage life science ventures. His interdisciplinary approach is a hallmark of future innovators.
Kyne also worked at Prequel’s Summer Program as a startup advisor and guiding mentor.
Prequel fosters a cycle of mentorship and giving back.
These examples demonstrate how Prequel equips STEM students with a unique blend of technical understanding and entrepreneurial prowess, preparing them for impactful careers at the intersection of science, technology, and business.
