HW Venture held a Vortex Meet-up Jan. 8 at break to allow students to present their latest businesses and hear feedback, as well as inform participants about other students’ businesses, personal projects, apps and other innovations at Harvard-Westlake.

Presenting students included HW Venture Senior Communications Lead Nick Settelmayer ’18, who shared his clothing brand “Natural Division LA,” and Jenna Wong ’19, who spoke about how she used her girl scout project to encourage more girls to pursue activities in STEM and science fields.

“Participants were able to see what others around Harvard-Westlake are doing and understand how other students have learned from developing their projects,” HW Venture Communications Lead Ari Sokolov ’19 said. “[The Vortex Meet-up] is also a way that more people can get involved. We hope that all the participants gained a general awareness and hopefully, they’ll all be eager to start their own project or become inspired [by] some of the people that are presenting.”

The meet-up also allowed students to improve on their own projects.

“In many meet-ups like this one, we have consulting groups for outsider opinions, business advice and pitch practicing,” HW Venture Vortex Leader Coco Kaleel ’20 said. “Participants also learn how to properly present ideas at these events. Meet-ups are also for further development of those ideas, and the goal is often to bring these ideas to the next level.”

The Vortex Meet-up is the first of many events designed to promote collaboration in HW Venture.

“We really want to make the HW Venture classroom a space where people are constantly bouncing ideas off each other whether they’re working together or just in conversation,” Sokolov said. “We want to show how the space can be used and what kind of collaboration and innovation can happen in the Vortex. I look forward to the coming events in January.”