Tuesday in "The Valley"

Gotta get those blogs done

Today started with just a little confusion as we re-created and shifted the schedule a bit and rolled with the punches. Flexibility is a virtue!

After lots of blogging and a  late breakfast, we headed to Stanford University for a walking tour.  The students were able to take in the architectural beauty of the many diverse buildings, including Hoover Tower, and absorbed some history as they strolled the grounds. Wrapping up the tour at the book store, where they took advantage of the faculty discount Deanna was able to help them with.

The next stop was lunch - yes these students do eat A LOT!  What's a trip to CA without a visit to "In & Out Burger"?  With a 10 minute limit to grab some "to go", the students were really "in & out" in no time, and off we went to the Computer History Museum with food all over the van....fun times.

The lunch spot

The main section of the Computer History Museum, as it turned out,  was closed on Monday & Tuesday.  In my haste to schedule as much as possible into a day, I neglected to check the hours of operation.  Not to worry though...there is a section of the museum that is open every day.  To me, it is my favorite part of the museum.  We had a blast checking-out the Google "self-drive" car, and the massive Google Earth map.

Our last stop was at the start-up, Concastic.  Cy Khormaee, the founder, was an outstanding host and explained every detail of starting a company in Silicon Valley. He described the unique culture and acceptance of failure and expectation of trust in order to succeed. He also introduced the students to the path to funding a venture, from seed money to venture capitalists. All in all an amazing visit with so much to take away.

Cy had so much to offer

The schedule for the day ended with a 6:00 "team play" dinner.  Everyone met at the suite, and rather than holding a meeting, they participated in creating an Italian dinner. As I helped to coordinate the happenings in the kitchen, I listened to many conversations about the day's happenings. I was so proud of what I was seeing and hearing.  The students were growing, collaborating, and sharing their thoughts of the past two days experiences.Truly a turning point in the week.

We have another big day ahead, with Google first on the agenda ...so i think I'll call it a night.

Everybody played a part

A  collabaorative dinner

The students chat with Deanna about the week