5A- Identifying Local Opportunities

1)    https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200128/uf-alerting-students-traveling-to-china-about-coronavirus

Title: UF alerting students traveling to China about coronavirus

The article is about warning students at UF about the new coronavirus. The article explains the people it has affected in China and how it has spread to official cases in the United States. It speaks about University of Florida having over 1800 international students from China, and the securities placed at airports on people traveling to China. The article also gives information on the specific symptoms of the virus, and how it affects people differently and to also have precautions when being around people who are currently sick.

The problem presented in the article is about an epidemic spreading throughout China and the United States. This is an immediate problem to the world, because it is a deadly virus that has reached thousands in China and just spread to America where it has the potential to spread throughout the states the same way it did in China.

Who has the problem?

US citizens, citizens in China, hospitals, the government, airports, airport employees, flight attendants, Chinese restaurants, tourism, medical staff, travelers, China, America, businesses,

2)    https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-beach-hires-hunting-service-to-kill-citys-iguanas-11459381

Title: Miami Beach to Spend $75,000 to Eradicate Invasive Iguanas

The article explains how iguanas are rapidly invading the Miami area. They started invading in south Florida recently because many iguanas were held as pets and set free and have been able to reproduce rapidly and grow in the warm climate. The city hired a company $75,000 the terminate iguanas from invasion. There taking a different approach by hiring this company, while in the past they have just informed residents to kill the iguanas if they see them. The article explains that it is a more ethical approach to remove the iguanas under a company that’s trained to do so, instead of having them killed.

The problem presented in the article is that iguanas are extremely invasive species to Florida. They have the potential of spreading disease while they carry salmonella, eat landscaping plants, and damage sidewalks by burrowing under them.

Who has the problem?

Residents, the city council, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the ecosystem, companies, restaurants, beaches, and state parks

3)    https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2020/01/30/florida-sinkhole-tallahassee-mobile-home-swallowed-hole-crater-capital-circle/2855305001/

Title: The day 'the earth shifted': Man whose home was sheared in half by sinkhole waits and worries

In Tallahassee, Florida a sink hole tore down a residents home. The article explains that this is the second sink hole that has happened in the area. The resident’s home that got damaged by the sink hole didn’t have insurance and he’s worried as to what is going to happen and if the city is going to intervene.

The problem presented in the article is that a sink hole ruined a residents home in Tallahassee Florida. The resident doesn’t have anywhere to live now and had no insurance on his home.

Who has the problem?

The resident’s home got destroyed, the city of Tallahassee, the owner and landlord, neighbors, the city council, the Tallahassee police department, police officers, residents of Tallahassee and city organizations.

4)    https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/01/30/legionnaires-disease-strikes-inmates-at-federal-prison-in-florida/

Title: Legionnaires’ disease strikes inmates at federal prison in Florida

In a Sumpter County federal prison, many prisoner inmates have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease and don’t know the main cause. The article explains how legionnaires’ disease is a severe form on pneumonia that impacts the lungs. The US government said that the outbreak is of minimum security and that Florida health officials are tracking down the source of the cause.

The problem presented is the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in a federal prison in Sumpter County.

Who has the problem?

Prisoner inmates, families of inmates, correctional officers, employees and owners of the prison, doctors, nurses, hospitals, hospital employees, Florida health officials and the US government.

5)    https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200124/1-dead-in-jacksonville-shooting

Title: 1 dead in Jacksonville shooting

In Mixton town, Jacksonville one man is dead from a shooting. Police was called that a shooting took place and police officers found the man on the street with a gunshot wound, and he later died after transport to the hospital. Authorities believe that the incident started with an argument and resulted in shots being fired. There are witnesses that are cooperating with detectives and the shooter fled the scene.

The problem presented in the article is a fatal shooting in Jacksonville, Florida. The victim of the shooting died and detectives are searching for the shooter, who fled the scene of the crime.

Who has the problem?

The victim, the victims’ family, the shooter, the shooters’ family, Jacksonville police department, police officers, police officers family, residents of Mixton town, local business owners near the crime scene, hospital employees such as doctors and nurses, and EMT.

4A- Forming An Opportunity Belief

As this is my first semester at UF, I immediately found an unmet need regarding parking at the university.

This unmet need is due to the lack of amount of parking spots at the University. There is more students and employees of the University than there is parking spots. This directly affected me and my means of transportation to campus, and in addition affects most students at the University. This also can affect teachers and employees of the University not being able to park when they need to go to teach a class or for employees to go to work. This can also affect businesses next to campus, as students, employees, or teachers park in their parking lot, taking up space of their lot so that their customers don’t have anywhere to park when they go to the Business resulting in lack of business due to no parking availability. This affects apartments next to campus resulting in a purchase of a decal to be able to park in their residents parking lot, making residents also having to pay for a decal to park in their complex; so it increases additional wages for residents just because the complex doesn’t want other people without a decal to park in their lot. A solution would be to create an app, that allows students to check in and out of parking spots. Then other students could see if there’s any available spots near there class.

1) Off-campus UF Senior
• Do you drive to campus for class?
“No, I usually take the bus or have a friend drop me off and pick me up. I also use uber sometimes”
• Do you have a decal for parking on campus?
“No, I did have one as a Freshmen because I wasn’t aware of how difficult it was to park on campus”
• Did you use your decal to park on campus during your freshman year?
“I did about 1 day a week, because a parking lot by my one specific class had availability sometimes during the time of the day the class was at. I assume it had spots open sometimes because it was a 7:30AM class.”
• How does the parking circumstance directly affect your process of getting to class?
“Well, it makes me wake up earlier and have to plan ahead to wait for a bus at my neighborhoods bus stop. Then I have to take the bus to the closest stop to my class, which still has me walking 10 minutes to my class. So, I would say it directly affects my time management when having to go to class and makes me waste a lot of additional time if I could just drive and park near my class instead”
• Do you think that UF needs to create more parking lots?
“Yes, definitely. Most friends I know don’t even purchase the decal, so if they opened more parking spaces, the University would receive more income because more students would buy a decal.”
• I had the idea of creating an app for students to check in and out of parking spots, so that other students can see if a spot is available near there class. Would you use that?
“That sounds smart, and I would use it. I just don’t know how accurate it would be still since there is so many students on campus.”

Reflection: This student is clearly affected by the lack of parking at University of Florida. His whole schedule is based off of getting to class via bus, or by spending money on an uber. Even as a senior, he is still being affected by lack of parking, because there really isn’t a best alternative to get to class from his experience. All of them require accommodation of personal time and even finances. I explained to him my idea of the app, and he thought that it was a smart idea to keep track of when students are parked in each space. But he also thinks that there’s so many students on campus that even if there was an available spot that showed on the app, another student driving around for a spot would find it immediately.

2) Sophomore that uses a scooter to get to campus
• When did you get a parking decal for your scooter?
“This is actually the first year that I have had my scooter so I just purchased the decal this year.”
• How often do you utilize your decal and park on-campus?
“I take my scooter to school every day. It is difficult at at times to find scooter parking available, but it’s much easier than driving to campus”   
• What other ways do you get to campus, if you don’t use your scooter?
“I usually take my scooter to campus just because that’s the simplest way. If I decide not to take my scooter if it’s raining then I’ll take the bus as a back up.
• Does having limited parking for your scooter bother you?
“It’s a bit frustrating but it’s honestly my only and best option”
• Are you going to use your scooter decal next year?
“Yes, freshman year I bought a car decal for campus and never could find a spot, so it was a complete waste and always rode the bus. Since getting a scooter decal this semester, it’s been the best way to get to campus”
• I had the idea of creating an app for students to check in and out of parking spots, so that other students can see if a spot is available near there class. Would you use that?
“Yes, definitely. That would help with the parking situation for cars but I don’t understand how that would work for scooters”

Reflection: From interviewing with a UF student that travels to class via scooter I still have found that there is a need for more parking lots and spaces. It’s crazy to think that even with a small scooter, that he can’t find parking sometimes. He was receptive to my idea of the app but was reserved because it didn’t sound like a complete solution to the problem.

3) Freshman that lives on campus
• Do you drive to campus for class?
“No, I live on campus so if I have a class that’s close I’ll just walk. Other times I’ll have a class across campus and I will take the bus”
• Do you have a decal for parking on campus?
“No, this is my first semester at UF and I decided to live on campus to avoid having to drive to class.”
• Are you aware of the limited parking situation on campus?
“Yes, I have a few friends off campus that have trouble getting to class, but personally it doesn’t affect me since I live so close.”
• Are you going to live off campus next year? And if you do, would you get a parking pass?
“I haven’t decided yet, I’m enjoying living on campus, but it is pretty expensive. And I probably wouldn’t purchase a parking pass from what I’ve been told, I would definitely choose a complex that has a bus station next to it”

• Do you think that UF needs to create more parking lots?
“Yes, even though it hasn’t affected me personally yet. But it does affect me if I want to live off-campus so I definitely think there is a need for more parking lots and spaces.

• I had the idea of creating an app for students to check in and out of parking spots, so that other students can see if a spot is available near there class. Would you use that?
“I wouldn’t need it in my exact living situation right now, but that sounds like a helpful idea. It might solve some of the parking problems going on at the University.”

Reflection: This student isn’t directly affected by the lack of parking at UF. But even living on campus, and never having to drive her car or scooter to get to class she’s still aware that many other students and fellow friends have trouble parking on campus. She is even hesitant about moving off campus because of this predicament. She thought the app was a good idea, but not an overall fix to the problem. She still thinks that something large would need to happen to fix the problem entirely.

Summary: I think that the need for additional parking at UF is 100% valid through my interviews and observation. Each person I interviewed saw the need, and explained how it affected them personally, or how it affected other students they know. From feedback of my idea of producing an app to show available spots, I realized that the app wouldn’t 100% fix the problem, it would just be a band-aid to the problem and possibly help some people at times. I came to the conclusion that the app wouldn’t be a successful way to solve this problem entirely. I gained a lot of insight from this assignment and the concept of finding a solution to a problem isn’t as simple as it sounds. 

3-A: Your Entrepreneurship Story

In high school I was a part of my school’s soccer team, and the team wanted to create and purchase t-shirts and jackets that represented our high school team. As captain I was in charge of finding a manufacturer that wasn’t expensive to create the t-shirts. It ended up choosing a local mom and pop shop that could manufacture the items. A few other teammates and I got to design the t-shirts on Adobe Illustrator and create our exact t-shirt and jacket models. We then sent the illustration to the manufacturer and they produced our t-shirts and jackets. Each teammate had to pay $20.00 dollars for both the jacket and t-shirt. I was in charge of collecting each teammates payment and paid the manufacturer the amount due. I didn’t look at this process as entrepreneurship until now, but I was the main person who collected the funds for our project and then found the source to obtain the products. It was a pretty simple project overall, and I found it to be so much fun creating a unique design to represent my high school team. I still have the shirt and jacket in my closet and use it sometimes to reminisce my high school soccer experience. 

I enrolled in Principles of Entrepreneurship because I have always wanted to work for myself and the concept of creating my own product or service that results in my income is motivating. I also am a huge fan of the of the tv show shark tank, and I find it fascinating watching each different entrepreneur create a product that solves a unique problem and start from the bottom-up. I watched success stories from shark tank of products beginning with $50,000 in yearly sales, and with the partnership of a shark they were able to grow their company and product to reach millions within a few years. The idea of owning a product or service of my own and being responsible for making the amount of revenue that I work for would be extremely satisfying. I saw this course as an option to fulfill a college credit in my field and I thought that was like a double bonus. I get to receive credit for my major and also take a class that I would love to learn more about and that will benefit me in my future endeavors. I enrolled immediately

This is a picture from my high school soccer team:

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