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Develop Entrepreneurial Skills to Direct Your Journey

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Ciocca Center Mindset Scholars is a 2 year program to develop an early entrepreneurial mindset for incoming first year students at SCU.

The four facets of an Entrepreneurial Mindset are:

  • Awareness of how we make a difference
  • Empathy for those we strive to help
  • Optimism to see problems as opportunities
  • Confidence to tolerate risk

At the completion of the program, scholars will receive recognition with university leadership and be equipped with tools to direct their life's journey!  Read more about the components of this unique experience below.

 

Mindset Scholars cultivates and supports a multidisciplinary and multicultural community of undergraduate students from across Santa Clara University, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

Mindset Scholars includes Academic Coursework that covers the entrepreneurial mindset from the perspective of each school:

  • In the Leavey School of Business, students take BUSN 70 - Contemporary Business Issues (4 units), which is taught by a former CEO of a company. 
  • In the College of Arts & Sciences, students explore empathy through a sociology course. 
  • In the School of Engineering, students are exposed to topics like Design Thinking, Product Opportunity Analysis, and more, to identify solutions to real challenges.  There is no math in the Engineering courses and students complete 2 units in these topics.

Mindset Scholars also includes unique co-curricular and experiential opportunities:

  • Early Arrival -  Mindset Scholars move in to campus early and participate in fun and engaging activities and community building hosted by Ciocca Center
  • Idea Lab - Mindset Scholars are advised on which section of Idea Lab to take based upon their interests.
  • Field Excursions - opportunities to explore the entrepreneurial mindset in Silicon Valley.  
  • Career Launch & Networking - Mindset Scholars are provided the tools to be stronger at networking as well as networking opportunities to connect them to unique internships.
  • Other special workshops and opportunities, including breakfast with President Julie Sullivan

Mindset Scholars are given priority applications to a variety of Ciocca Center opportunities, including Innovation Fellows, Bronco Ventures Accelerator, and BEACH.

Each Mindset Scholar is matched with a mentor, who is a current SCU student in their major, minor, or school.  They provide insights on navigating SCU and opportunities to get engaged on campus.

Each Mindset Scholar additionally has quarterly advising hours with a Ciocca Center advisor, where they are supported by a professional at SCU. These advising hours are personalized for each Mindset Scholar to connect them into resources at SCU related to their personal interests.  For example, a Mindset Scholar interested in Creative Writing would be connected to the Santa Clara Review, the HUB Writing Center and other resources related to writing, whereas a Mindset Scholar interested in building a business might be connected to MakerLab and Ciocca Center Bronco Ventures Accelerator and other resources related to building a business.  These advising hours are used for a variety of topics to support success, such as, making appointments at SCU's Career Center, finding an on-campus job, connecting with tutors on campus, and all sorts of other questions.

Mindset Scholars is estimated to be about a 2-4 hour time commitment per week on average.

2024-2026 Mindset Scholars

Aiden Christen

Bioengineering Major

Aiden Kwapisz

Finance Major

Alexandra Schiller

Public Health Major

Armen Kazazean

Neuroscience Major

Arselen Munoz

Sociology Major

Ava Stoddard

Finance, Economics, Management

Charlie Lyons

Marketing, Management

Chester Billerbeck

Finance Major

Chloe Shim

Business Major

Claire Carpita

Political Science Major

Colleen Cloonan

Psychology and Communications

Collin Blewett

Finance Major

Elijah Goss

Marketing Major

Ella Torseth

Studio Art Major

Emma Walsh

Accounting Major

Hope Springhart

Communication Major

Hoshita Undella

Finance, Bioengineering

Isha Nag

Management Information Systems Major

Jameson Baldwin

Communication Major

Jennifer Muro

Environmental Science Major

John Malta-Magana

Electrical Engineering Major

Jonah Chun

Civil Engineering Major

Kaiya Lu

Economics Major

Kareena Israni

Finance Major

Kaylee Ellerhorst

Biology Major

Krish Jajoo

Computer Science and Engineering

Leonardo Eulate

Business Major

Marta Slid

Management Major

Minh-Kang Nguyen

Mechanical Engineering Major

Natalya Sanchez

Mechanical Engineering Major

Paloma Helms

Political Science, Gender Studies, International Relations

Parsa Valdez

Neuroscience Major

Penelope Flores

Psychology Major

Rigved Barve

Biology Major

Sanjana Badami

Management Information Systems Major

Shreya Dusankar

Business Major

Sophia Mikkelson

Psychology Major

Stephanie Vu

Mechanical Engineering Major

Susan Lee

Finance Major

Thatcher Cattell

Computer Science and Engineering

Tiago Moreno

Political Science and Psychology

Tre Rangel

Business Major

2023-2025 Mindset Scholars

Allison Kemp

Business Management 

Anna Mulderink

Mechanical Engineering 

Asha LaManque

Computer Science 

Barbara Herrera Modesto

Business

Brooke Tanner

Biology

Georgia Kalpogianni

Psychology 

James Ponzio

Bioengineering 

Jessica Bui

Management Information Systems 

Jessica Simmons

Business Management

Jonathan Felix Saucedo

Management Information Systems

John Buscher

History 

Juliana Roesner

Management Information Systems

Kyle Chew

Marketing or Management Information Systems 

Mei Lin Hsu

Bioengineering

Mira Pande

Management Information Systems

Mylesha Shaikh

Economics 

Reyansh Jogi

Biology 

Ryan Pool

Finance 

Sean Wu

Computer Science & Engineering 

Shangrong Wu

Marketing 

Shangyuan Li

Engineering 

Taara Khan

Political Science

2022-2024 Mindset Scholars

Check back in May of 2025

Adrian Pina

Business

Arnav Bharadwaj

Computer Science Engineering

Blessing Ndionyenma

Business, Management in Systems

Bianca Ricafort

Economics, Communications

Emily Chen

CS and Engineering, Accounting and IS

Eve Erceg

Biology

Fernando Rojas

Web Design, Engineering

Francisca Gelman

Political Science

Grace Perryman

Finance, Entrepreneurship

Gema Sanchez Gamez

Anthropology, Public Health, Accounting and IS

Jesus Cruz

Environmental Science

Kendall Cox

Undeclared Arts & Sciences, Interested in English and Psychology

Naina Singh

Business

Neil Gawande

Computer Science, Mathematics

Ryan Alappatt

Finance, English

Sabrina Gonzalez

Quantitative Economics

Santiago Guerrero

Neuroscience

Siddhi Kabadi

Computer Science