Scoring airfare to Mardi Gras can be as easy as answering a weekly trivia question.
Wharton freshman Nico Warden learned this through his participation in the Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs’ “Venture a Guess” contest.
Established three years ago by a team at WEP, the program’s initial purpose was “to reach out to undergraduates across campus and open their eyes to entrepreneurship,” according to WEP founding team member and Managing Director Emily Cieri.
Organized around a weekly, online trivia question open to all undergraduates, the contest is aimed at raising awareness of entrepreneurial alumni and the programs that WEP offers.
A sample question asks: “What Penn alum started his/her career as a lawyer, went on to become a serial entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry and is now a venture capitalist?”
According to Megan Mitchell, another founding team member and the senior associate director of WEP, e-mail notifications with information on the contest and events are sent out to spread the word about entrepreneurial opportunities.
Every week, a prize is given away to a student chosen randomly out of those who answer the question correctly. In addition, points are earned every time a correct answer is submitted, which are tabulated to select a grand prize winner.
By Warden’s estimate, 23 students tied for first place this semester, resulting in the grand prize winner being chosen at random.
About 250 undergraduates participated in the contest this semester.
“I would definitely say that people don’t know about it,” Warden said. “I could see how people could see it and just glance over it and not become that interested in signing up for a weekly trivia game. They don’t realize what you could win.”
For Warden, the prize was a domestic round-trip flight courtesy of Southwest Airlines.
“I was thinking of going to Mardi Gras for spring break or going to San Diego over winter break,” he said.
According to Cieri, while WEP is satisfied with the current level of student participation, they are always looking to engage more students.
Wharton senior Nick Greif, who won a $60 gift certificate to Gia Pronto in a weekly drawing, believes that the program’s exposure has been sufficient.
“I think they definitely got the word out about it — especially among Wharton students,” he said.
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