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Welcome to Spark SC's Info Session!

• Introduce Presidents & Core Team
• Describe Spark + Introduce Mission
• Explain the structure of Spark and what people are applying for

Describing the Work

• In Spark, any Board member can suggest a new way of approaching
• 1000 Pitches
• Founders
• Project Launch
• AGF
• Spark XM
• Lunar Gala

How does it all work?

• Graphics
• Deep care for the mission & for each other

Family

• Who we are
• Word cloud of majors
• Our photos
• Some things we do
• The Sparklet Experience
• How we treat freshmen (and sparklets)
• Leadership and expectations from Sparklets
• Culture of Mentorship
• Stuff we do together — VSCO Girl Film Reel™
• Code of Conduct
• Respect is key
• Zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and other types of creepy behavior
• Little time for people who are pessimistic and dismissive, poor at working in groups, etc.

The Recruitment Process and What We Look For

• Hustlers with great attitudes and creative spirits
• Students of all, all backgrounds
• Recruitment criteria
• No experience necessary (seriously)
• Recruitment process outline (can hand out map)
• Interviews and dates — we can give handouts or let people take pictures

Ways to stay updated

• Follow our Instagram
• Email List

Our Family

Students of all, all backgrounds

Because we believe that anyone can be an entrepreneur, we recruit from people pursuing all kinds of careers and majors of study. Diverse perspectives are incredibly important and enriching to our culture. Other clubs might accept talent from very specific majors and careers, but we find the opposite approach works in our favor.

Here's every major and minor that we've had in the last six years: Word-cloud of majors.

Fellowship

We do a lot of work together, so this means we spend a lot of time together. We have a habit of doing grinding together all the time, making each other dinner and snacks, and going the extra mile to spend time together, even if we decide to bring our work. We're fun people and we like each other.

Culture of Mentorship

Everyone in Spark gets a mentor, but what makes us different is a real culture of mentorship. We cultivate an environment where you might learn from or teach anyone something new, and we really look for growth mindset in people. We're invested in each other far deeper than our work or professional development — Spark is a place where people are personal and vulnerable with each other, and that's what makes us family.

A family business is still a business.

We expect everyone to have copious amounts of fun in Spark — this is our family and our home on campus — but it's still a job, and if you're on the Board, that means that you hold a spot that a lot of people apply for. We expect you to treat the job with respect from the beginning by showing up on time, following through with your work, and investing in Spark's growth over time.

Respect for the work and for each other is key. We have also have zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault.

The Sparklet Experience

Sparklets asleep in a closet at retreat OR Pavan's extremely high quality selfies When students are admitted to our Board, we expect them to adhere to and uphold the same values and attitudes as they expressed during the recruitment process, be open to growth, and make strong relationships with the people around them. Being part of Spark's family is essential to Sparklet success. Fellowship, mentorship, and vulnerability come together to help Sparklets grow and learn to do the work.

We don't expect Sparklets to know the ins and outs of daily work. People will meet with you and get you up to speed, and we have some great documentation for you to peel through that shows how we've grown as an organization over the years.

A safe place to fail

We do expect Sparklets to fail, just as we expect failure from board members who have been around for longer. Spark is a great, safe place to fail, and whether you like it or not, things will go wrong. You'll say the wrong thing in a meeting. You'll post something in the wrong channel, push for an event that draws little attendance, or fail to execute precisely what you set out to do... but Spark is a crazy supportive family. Every one of us has failed in our respective roles numerous times, and we're here to dust you off and pull you through when it happens.

Spark Labs

Spark Labs is a month-long initiative that is completely Sparklet-run, with some loose guidance from Core. The guidelines change from semester to semester, but in the past Sparklets have worked on ideas to improve Spark or worked directly on our mission.

Mentors

Every Sparklet recieves a mentor, hand-selected by Core Team. This mentor is your go-to friend and resource in Spark, but you'll have tons of friends soon enough.

Sparklet Orientation

Sparklets have orientation immediately after getting into Spark. Because we do so much work at a fast pace, we need to get you up to speed on where all our communication, files, design documents, code, and assets live right away. We'll teach you how to use them and stay organized and make sure you feel comfortable with the way you budget your time. This semester, Rahul is working directly on the Sparklet experience overall.

How Recruitment Works

In a mechanical sense recruitment is a one-week process after all applications are submitted. We read each application we get three times anonymously. We do not see names or demographics, but we do see your major and year in school. These details help us contextualize the things you might bring up in your applications.

We score those applications and interview 60-70 of those individuals. Two Board members will interview you to enhance the information we screen for in our written applications.

Finally, we move onto the group interview, where you'll get a chance to demonstrate who you are in a group setting. None of these interviews can be rescheduled, and there's a strict window in which you can pick interview times, so make sure to stay on top of your emails during the week of Jan 27 - Feb 2.

What we look for

We look for creative, hardworking self-starters who think critically about what they can do to improve their community. We're looking for people who share our core values of diversity and inclusion. Finally, we're looking for people who want to grow.

No experience necessary*

What do we mean when we say "no experience necessary?" We mean that you don't need to be an experienced entrepreneur, or have spent your years in high school and college running fellowships and career fairs and hackathons. Again, we are looking for individuals who take creative, scrappy initiative on issues they see in their communities and who share our core values and beliefs about entrepreneurship.

What it means if you don't get into Spark

Individuals who don't get into Spark are still excellent people — we can't accept everyone who applies, but there are still other ways to get involved. Project Launch always needs mentors, and you can be on the participating end of our initiatives — get a job at Startup Career Fair, apply to an internship through Tech.LA fellows, attend our workshops, or even bring your own startup through Roland's committee.

We also suggest applying again. Several of our Board members applied two or three times before getting into Spark, and it paid off for us and for them.

Intro and Mission - Menna

Approach and Belief 4-8 - Steve

Steve: Now we’re going to be going over our initiatives for this semester.

SCF — Steve

AGF — Menna

DEI — Steve

Project Launch — Menna

Spark market - Steve

1000 pitches - Menna

Graphics - Steve

Meet the Family - Menna

Majors and Minors - Steve

Alumni - Menna

Fellowship - Steve

Mentorship - Menna

Sparklet Experience - Steve

We got your back - menna

What we look/dont look for - menna

We’re looking for - menna

Timeline - Steve

Lava lab - Menna

Troy Labs - Steve

AMA - Menna