A Semester Amidst A Pandemic —Northeastern University San Francisco Program
For a bit of background, I am Kartik Katta, a student at Northeastern University. I am currently enrolled in the San Francisco program.
This past semester has been a great experience for a student in Entrepreneurship. The San Francisco program became an adventurous learning experience that entailed working with my fellow peers while living in India. At the beginning of the course, I was looking at long work schedules amidst which my classes were going to take place. My family business is in the textile industry, which means a decent amount of hands-on work to add that. Therefore, this semester has been a journey through which I have learned many new skills such as time management. I am grateful for this opportunity that the San Francisco program has provided me. The coursework and its engagement meant that I was growing as a global citizen learning amongst future professionals from all over the world and directly learn from professors who are entrepreneurs themselves.
Northeastern is about experiential learning as it sets out learning objectives for its students. These coupled with reflections and blogs provided the students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge to the practice field in the course Special Topics in Marketing. For instance, I was able to apply the new knowledge and understanding I gained during this course to my business. The textile industry is dynamic and labor-intensive, and I could witness my improvement at work. This improvement can be credited to the University and its ability to provide excellent online classes. I feel this is something I am immensely grateful for. I believe that education becomes ingrained in me only after I have practiced it as a skill. This application of skills translates into the arsenal of an Entrepreneur. The ability of an individual to profit from uncertainty seems to be the significant quality of an Entrepreneur. Thus, this course became an opportunity for me to test myself in the field while pursuing higher education.
Overview of the Program
This program was originally undertaken by me with two classes in the San Francisco program, however, I had to drop one class. The other classes that I have undertaken were in Academic Writing in Business Administration and a 4000 level Entrepreneurship course. These along with the Marketing course engaged me in a variety of different industries and challenged me to grasp everything in an online format. My favorite course has been the marketing class which provided me an opportunity to research my choice of project. This project became the Artemis project which I have eagerly waited to learn about. With excitement and over-enthusiasm, I approached the research and created the presentation a little longer than required. I learned about several areas of marketing that I did not know existed. The research on CB insights also provided me additional information about the companies which are responsible for this project. I have also thoroughly enjoyed conversing with my professors who are themselves quite interesting, to say the least. My marketing professor has recommended the Zion National Park as a trek that he has been to, which I also intend to cover once the pandemic is under control and the lockdowns are lifted.
This project consists of Nasa designing a journey to Moon and eventually to Mars. Since this research, I have had the opportunity to find out that several other countries are undertaking space as the next industry. In India alone, 64 startups were registered with the government to receive grants and subsidies. China has recently also mentioned similar pursuits. The marketing course provided me with an opportunity to explore different business models that exists. Upon conversing with the professor, I was able to gain insight into the segmentation of the market. By applying this knowledge to the project, I understood that Space in itself is a broader industry than I had originally imagined. Therefore, upon reading the report overview by NASA I choose crew transportation as the innovation about which I would create my blog. Throughout this course innovation as a thought and its various leaders have been discussed at great length. The niche segmentation of space innovation provided me the opportunity to learn how to focus my research perspective according to the target market. I choose innovation in crew transportations that has been significant and engages anyone interested in innovation. There has been a drastic shift in the funding of marketing by NASA as well. To create the necessary momentum of citizens, NASA intends to utilize a unique marketing strategy. Upon review of their videos and website, I found further details of the innovation that has resulted in the companies receiving the government contracts. This innovation relies on cost savings and efficient use of resources. NASA also intends on creating a space station that will be able to establish workstations on the Moon. Thus, this class provided me with the opportunity to explore my favorite segment of the market and at the same point apply this knowledge to my business. With the awareness of segmentation, I can now prepare a more focused marketing mix if required for my new products. This kind of application is in real-time due to the pandemic. I like to see situations as an opportunity to grow, hence, this pandemic has proved challenging as education became entirely virtual, however, it has also been extremely fruitful as I am better equipped now to manage time differences and different kinds of tasks simultaneously.
How this semester has helped me
Coming into this semester I had a few objectives in mind. Each class has helped me gain something significant. From my Spanish class, I have gained linguistic abilities as well as comprehension of different cultures. From my academic writing course, I have understood how to reflect better and create reflexivity in my reflections. Reflexivity can be understood as writing with exigence in mind. The exigence determines the subject and how we approach ‘the other’ reflects our intentions while writing an essay. This class proved especially tough as it had several concepts of genres and their usage.
I have always enjoyed entrepreneurship and marketing classes as they are closer to my industry & major, which also allows translates into knowledge applicable to my family business. I think this semester has also helped me become a more sincere student as I had to take responsibility for my classes despite my geographic location. I had previously intended on taking a few classes online and exploring San Francisco, however, I believe the online course itself also has the potential to improve student learning. As mentioned above, the program is a tremendous opportunity for anyone who wishes to apply his knowledge to business right now. Instead of gaining knowledge that is applicable after a few years, this program enables you to build a professional network, gain connections, and listen to insights from excellent professors. I have always been grateful to my professors who create a comfortable environment in class, where questions and discussions are frequent.
Why should you take this course?
During this pandemic, online classes have become the new norm. Amidst this transformation, there is an opportunity for students who can take this program to become better Marketers and Entrepreneurs. If one changes his or her perspective and understands the value of time, then I believe there is a clear value that is visible in this course. Upon first look itself, the program provides a plethora of opportunities to enhance your skills as an Entrepreneur. As much as I love Boston, I would have appreciated the opportunity to witness the beauty of San Francisco as well. After taking this course, I feel my wish to visit and witness the landscapes of San Francisco is more immediate. I am sure there are several individuals out there today who might relate to Marketing as its capabilities and requirements become widespread. To them, I will recommend that you must take Special Topics in Marketing as a class as it will enable you to go beyond the threshold concepts within marketing and gain knowledge that is practical and useful.
