SYLP at the University of Delaware

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

9:30 am - 1:15 pm

Clayton Hall at University of Delaware

We look forward to welcoming you and your students to Clayton Hall at the University of Delaware for another incredible SYLP session – with some exciting new components!

Breakout Sessions

For the first time ever, based on your insights and feedback, we will offer breakout sessions for students to attend. These 40-minute sessions will focus on the core principles of SYLP: entrepreneurship, economics, and individual leadership.

These smaller group sessions will be led by college professors, local business leaders, and University faculty. Students will attend two breakouts during the course of the day.

Keynote Speaker & Student Panel

We are excited to bring a young, local entrepreneur and Delaware business owner to the stage as our keynote speaker. And as we have done in years past, we will welcome several students to the stage to participate in an interactive panel.

Breakout Sessions

Fuel Your Future: The Power of Curiosity and Dreams

Explore how being "Connected to the World" can fuel your dreams and aspirations. You’ll be challenged to think for yourself, dig deeper into new ideas, and understand the world in a way that goes beyond the surface. By developing traits like intellectual curiosity, courage, and humility, you’ll gain the tools to navigate life’s challenges with confidence. This session invites you to ask big questions, face uncertainty with confidence, and approach the world with an open mind, all while focusing on your personal ambitions. Self-reflection and critical thinking will be key to uncovering how staying connected can lead to meaningful achievement.

Led by: Lauren Campbell and Nick Enos of The Siegfried Group

Unlock Your Creative Power: The Entrepreneur Within

Step into a dynamic session designed to help you unlock your creative potential and discover how your ideas can shape the future. Together, we’ll explore how creativity isn't just for artists or inventors—it's a tool for solving problems you care about and making the world better. You’ll learn how to identify issues that matter to you, think outside the box, and turn those ideas into real-world solutions. Whether it's in your school, community, or beyond, this session will show you how entrepreneurship is all about creating value and driving change. Get ready to think big, take risks, and unlock the power of innovation!

Led by: Maggie Nelson and Felicia Harrington of University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship

Incentives, The Profit Motive, and You

Personally engage with Professor Asarta to learn how to “see the unseen,” why uncertainty and risk are needed for entrepreneurship, and how profits draw a crowd, generating competition, lower prices, and innovation. Together, you will also do a deep dive into how people respond to incentives, how different resources contribute to productivity, and how production incentives are tied to the profit motive. We will conclude the session with some “Pearls of Knowledge,” examining what the richest people in the world have in common and what you could do to join them in the future! This presentation will include many relatable examples to help you make fully informed decisions about your future.

Led by: Professor Carlos J. Asarta, the Bank of America Chaired Professor of Business and James B. O’Neill Director of the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware.

Confidence 101: Presenting Your Best Self

How confident are you; in your ideas, pursuits, or yourself? Explore this question and how a positive mindset, resilience and engagement can contribute to you being your best self. In Confidence 101 we will also introduce some basic leadership research and theory so explore how an entrepreneurs own vision of themself can affect the influence they have on themself, those around them and their world.

Led by: Professor Nat Measley, University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship

Speakers

Markevis Gideon

CEO of NERDiT Now

Markevis’ mission is to inspire people to find their passion and innovate their way to success. At the age of 12, a middle school teacher gave Markevis a computer and this event changed his life.

With this gift he quickly realized he had a passion for technology. Markevis then attended a tech-focused high school program, majored in computer science & accounting in college, and went on to live in China for five years.

Upon his return from China, Markevis was reminded of that single computer donation from years prior. He thought, “If one computer was able to change my life in such a way, what can 100 computer donations do per year?”

And that’s what he did. He started selling computers online to sustain donations. From here, NERDiT NOW was born. Today NERDiT NOW has donated over 3,000 computers to at-risk communities throughout Delaware. This is done mostly through, The NERDiT Foundation 501c3.

Markevis and NERDiT NOW have been featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, NBC News, The Washington Post, and more. Currently, he is focused on the continued growth of NERDiT NOW, starting the first I.T recycling company in the state of Delaware, all the while building an I.T. apprenticeship to help close the digital divide.

Markevis Gideon

Event Recap
SYLP has a fall to remember

November 15, 2023
Read More
Event Recap
SYLP lands in Connecticut

December 21, 2023
Read More
Event Recap
UD alum leads program aimed at developing young leaders

May 2, 2018
Read More