A generous donation from a Cornell alumnus covered the travel expenses and registration fees for seven CIPA students to attend the annual Entrepreneurship at Cornell Summit in New York City on Nov. 3. 

“Because of this alum’s generosity, these students were exposed to cutting edge practices in entrepreneurship,” said CIPA Executive Director Thomas O’Toole. “This experience was particularly important for students pursuing careers in the public and nonprofit sectors, insofar as entrepreneurship has traditionally been ‘owned’ by the private sector. It’s time to change that mentality.”

Vanisha Harma PAM’ 18, one of the seven CIPA students who attended the Summit, found the event highly inspirational. “We were able to interact with young and established entrepreneurs face-to-face and learn from their real-life success stories,” she said. “For me, the highlight was an interview by Jennifer Hyman, the CEO and co-founder of Rent-the-Runway.” An online business that promotes renting of clothes rather than buying, Rent-the-Runway aims to bring about a behavioral change in consumers, encouraging them to become more environmentally friendly.

Second-year student Molly Warrington was grateful that an alum came forward to sponsor this event. “If it was not for the generosity of the donor, we would not have been able to attend the Summit,” she said. “It was great to be able to interact with so many impressive individuals from the Cornell community. I left feeling inspired to follow their lead.”

The Summit featured leaders involved in a wide variety of entrepreneurship ventures across the public and private sectors. Cornell President Martha Pollack served as the keynote speaker. Other presenters included Liza Landsman, president of Jet.com; J.J. Ramberg, host of MSNBC’s Your Business; and Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners and winner of the 2017 Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The competition fit with the College’s mission for educating students, said Alan Mathios, Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology.

“I’m really excited that NASPAA has chosen Cornell and the College of Human Ecology to help host this competition,” he said. “The mission statement of Human Ecology is improving lives by exploring and shaping human connections to natural, social, and built environments, and that mission statement is so, so connected with this issue of pandemics. It’s just a natural fit for us to be focused on that.”

During the competition, student teams identified potential solutions and prepared strategy recommendations to present to judges. Students described the competition as an exciting and eye-opening experience that they will inform their professional lives.

“The NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition was a unique and unforgettable experience,” said Sarah Cartagena MPA ’19 who participated in the simulation. “It exposed me to the complexities of real life crisis situations and allowed me to visualize the impact that political decisions can have in the life of real people.”

“Most importantly, this competition taught me the importance of teamwork and patience in unpredictable situations. After completing this simulation, I now feel better prepared to tackle real-life policy issues,” she said.

The Cornell site winners, which included five CIPA students, were Nida Mahmud MPA ’19, Joe VerValin MPA ’18, Bethany Lauren Jones MPA ’19 and Muhammad Saad Arshad (Syracuse) from Team World One, and Sarah Cartagena MPA ’19, Rafia Farooqui MPA ‘18 and Jessica DePasquale (Buffalo State) from Team World Two. Winners at each site moved on to compete against each other for the overall top award, with Team World One winning Third Place overall.

This Simulation Competition was first designed by NASPAA in 2015 to support and encourage more experiential learning in the classroom, especially in the realm of public policy and administration education. In 2016, NASPAA announced a five-year affiliation agreement to partner with the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy for its Student Simulation Competition.