Silicon Valley Article Reflection

**Before I start I would like to make note that the article being referenced in this blog can be found by copying and pasting this link into your handlebar http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_27467035/silicon-valley-innovation-geography-is-destiny-says-study**

Hello Readers,

          It’s me again, even though my last post said I wouldn't be posting until I was in the beautiful warm weather of California I unfortunately never posted my blog about an article we had to read for the class. So here I sit in freezing cold Massachusetts dreaming of warmer weather while I write my next post.
          One of the dozen websites we had to sign up for was the Silicon Valley News.  I understand why we need this website for the class but the twelve emails a day I get from them is a little excessive at times on top of all the other websites we were required to subscribe to. Regardless most of the content in the emails we receive are surprisingly interesting. And yes I know it’s the typical nerd comment we like to read everything, literally.
          Back to the article though, this week Professor Gibbs assigned, “Silicon Valley really is more innovative, study finds.” This article discusses how most start up companies have a better chance at being successful in the valley than they would if they decided to head to the east coast. As stated by Global Partnerships President Steve Ciesinski, "Research centers attract extremely bright, curious, energetic and ambitious people -- people who want to change the world in a positive way. Increasingly, they want to realize their dreams in their own ventures, not buried in a large company" Anyone who has ever wanted to start there own company and be in charge will never let someone else boss them around, let alone take credit for the hard work they put in.  Ciesinski also mentioned, "With more education on how to start and build companies being evangelized at places like Stanford, SRI and many other research institutions, it's no longer so intimidating to researchers to start up a venture based on their breakthrough science and technology."
          If you know high chance of being successful where you are right now WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU LEAVE?! That's like going to college, making honors and three days before graduation you get kicked out. Why would you ruin something you put so much time and energy into? You worked hard and were so close yet you threw it all away for nothing. Silicon Valley is surrounded by some of the best schools there's Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Caltech and a handful more. most of the professors probably know a venture capitalists that help you get your company or corporation on its way to becoming apart of the Top 10.
          Looking back at the article and the expectations of this trip I do not think there will be any disappointments based on the schedule we have set up, company's and corporations were going to looking into but also the area itself. They're such positively minded people. They would rather see you fail because that means you made mistakes but also gives you a chance how to learn from them and avoiding having them happen again. All of the positivity and success in the Valley is near impossible to find anywhere else. I look forward to visiting everyone and absorbing the positive vibes to take home with me. 

Until next time, 
Kaitlyn 

P.S I LEAVE FOR CALIFORNIA IN 8 DAYS!!!!

Who am I?

          For all of those who are reading this and do not know who I am, my name is Kaitlyn Cole and I am a junior here at Curry College. I study business management with an accounting concentration as well as a minor in mathematics. My goal after college is to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to then proceed to work with a Top 4 Accounting Firm or start my own firm. I come from a small town in Connecticut that isn't known unless I mention that its about twenty minutes west of the Mohegan Sun Casino/Hotel. Once you make the reference every just happens to know where I am from.
          I decided I wanted to become an accountant as a career path when I was maybe 12 or 13. At the time I was the math nerd that shot her hand up the minute the teacher would ask if anyone knew the answer. I found a love for the subject based on a handful of great math teachers I had throughout my secondary years of education. They showed passion in what they taught which made me look forward to all of my math classes just because I looked forward to learning new things as much as they were excited to teach it. While almost everyone was ready to jump over the desk to get out of the classroom I found I was always the last one to leave because I was so eager to finish the problem I was working on. Looking back I can see I had found success when it came to math related courses. This helped me decide that I should become a business management major when it was time to apply for college.
          This blog was made in order to keep people aware of how the trip is going, what our day to day schedule is like but also to see what we are learning from the trip itself. The two professors of this course Susanne Gibbs and Deanna Gordon have worked extremely hard to make sure this trip goes exactly how it was planned. Since we leave in about a week I most likely wont post another blog until we are in sunny California

Until next time,

Kaitlyn