Kermit Mitchell III

Q&A with Kermit Mitchell III

• What is the most memorable moment of your program experience?
  The most memorable moment of my program experience was going to the Googleplex, and seeing the self driving cars, solar powered
  cars, and electric cars in action.
• How as the program encouraged you to take action in your school or community?
  This program helped me bring out the entrepreneurship and made me more professional. I started improving my school clubs, and I was
  became more respected by students and staff.
• What inspires you as a young leader?
  My inspiration derives from historical figures that have burned their mark in history, such as Socrates, people that have bought things to
  life, like Ken Sugimori, and people that changed the technology industry rebelliously, like Mark Zuckerburg.
• How was attending the program different than learning in a traditional classroom?
  In a classroom, you are giving boring lectures, random assignments, and endless homework. At this event, there was collaboration and
  discussion regarding the problems we faced. We learned individually, and then helped each other grow and move on, helping us all as a
  unit.
• How has your program experience helped you focus on a career path?
  Since I want to be a software developer especially in the game design industry, working on my own games helped me see what was
  needed to make the game, and then to sell and market the game.
• What extracurricular activities and/ or hobbies do you take part in?
  I am a part of my school's Gay Straight Alliance, helping to create a safe environment for LGBT Youth and their straight allies. I am also a
  part of my school's Video Game Development club, where we work on small group projects, and discuss things related to the gaming
  world. As a hobby, I play competitive strategy games like League of Legends, Pokemon, and Yugioh. I also like to compose music!
• What are your professional aspirations?
  Ultimately, I want to have my own video game development company that self-publishes it's own games. In that company, I'll be the CTO
  as a founding member, but I want to be a software developer/game developer, working on programming the game.

  To get there, I would like to work at a video game development company first, such as Riot Games, Nintendo, or Square Enix, or a
  Technology Company like Google, Microsoft, or Facebook.

• What college have you been accepted to?
  I have been accepted to SUNY Fredonia for Computer Science (B.S.), and I'll be attending there!
• How has your program experience impacted your life and your future?
  After the program (I went in July 2015), on July 29, 2015, my brother Brandon came up with an idea for a new kind of social media. I
  joined him the same night, and since then we have been growing and refining the idea.

  
  My startup is Ideayet. Ideayet is an upcoming social media platform with equity crowdfunding components where users can get paid for
  posting and sharing ideas, and where users can view all of their ideas in one central location. This site is a social media platform that
  promotes creativity, and aims to make social media a more productive experience. You can learn more at www.ideayet.com.
  I've built the website from scratch (no templates no wordpress, straight up HTML, CSS, JS, SQL, and PHP). The pages above are simply the
  promo page explaining Ideayet, and what we've been up to. I am currently developing the alpha version of the actual platform for testing.
  If you are interested in testing or want more information, signup for our newsletter here
  (http://www.ideayet.com/Ideayet_Newsletter_Sign_Up.php), and the signup for alpha testing will be live on April 21st, 2016!
  Ideayet was selected to be at TechDayHQ (https://techdayhq.com/new-york), an event where many startups from across the country
  come to show off their startup. There is an abundance of press, incubators, and investors at this event. The event will be held in New York
  City on April 21st, and I will be there with my startup team!

  Today, we launched a Teespring campaign (https://teespring.com/support_ideayet) to raise funds for TechDay, and to increase brand
  awareness, which will remain open until April 6th, 2016. You can support the campaign by joining the innovator movement at
  (http://www.ideayet.com/Ideayet_Fundraise.php). Please help spread the word to your colleagues, classmates, teachers, and other
  people you think would be interested. Also, don't forget social media! Let EVERYONE know. All help is greatly appreciated!
  The tour of Silicon Valley helped foster my growth as a computer scientist and young entrepreneur. =]

• What would you tell other students who are interested in attending an Envision program?
  The price is worth every penny. It seems heavy at first, but it's a lifetime investment I'm glad I made.