UPDATED: Dec. 1,  2011 at 1:04 p.m.

Students who wish to have the opportunity to meet with Syracuse University alumni and visit companies in the Silicon Valley area must have their applications in by Friday.

Last spring, a group of 12 students went on the trip, which is sponsored by the School of Information Studies, and the cost was reduced from $3,000 to $500 after a donation, according to an article published in March by The Daily Orange. This year, the cost will be the same, and the iSchool’s goal is to take 15 SU students on the trip.

Shay Colson, director of West Coast Relationships, spearheaded the trip last year in hopes to better acquaint students with companies in Silicon Valley and to give them a firsthand experience with the area.

‘I feel like often Silicon Valley seems like a mythical place — somewhere that doesn’t seem real because maybe you’ve never seen it for yourself,’ Colson said. ‘This trip is the chance to expose some of the best and brightest SU students to the people and companies in the Valley, and vice-versa.’

Julie Walas, director of undergraduate recruitment for the iSchool, said the trip’s purpose was to expose students to the innovation and expertise in Silicon Valley.

‘There’s a great match between the innovation at the iSchool and the innovation that leads the world coming out of Silicon Valley,’ Walas said.

Anne Marie Suchanek, a junior information studies major who went on the first trip, wanted to participate because she knew it would be a unique experience.

‘I knew that this trip was something I wouldn’t be able to participate in without Syracuse,’ Suchanek said. ‘Going on a trip to Silicon Valley that’s cost-efficient, and you get to be with other Syracuse students, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do that otherwise.’

Last year, students had the opportunity to visit a variety of companies in Silicon Valley, including smaller start-ups, venture capital firms and large, successful start-ups such as Google and Facebook.

The goal in selecting the companies for students to visit was to show the students an array of businesses in the area. Officials at the iSchool found contacts to arrange the visits to the companies through SU alumni.

‘We used a lot of our alumni contacts to get tours, talks with CEOs, developers and the real influencers of Silicon,’ Walas said. ‘It also gives students the opportunity to learn about the alumni experience.’

Besides visiting companies, students visited Stanford University and had an alumni dinner, which gave them the chance to talk to SU alumni working in Silicon Valley. The dinner was the highlight of the trip for many students.

‘Talking with the alumni about their experiences at Syracuse, I realized that they were students just like us,’ Suchanek said. ‘Now they’re having amazing experiences in Silicon Valley.’

Colson said he believes the opportunity to visit and meet with SU alumni in Silicon Valley will be beneficial for students who are looking to relocate to the area following graduation.

‘The chance to visit big-name companies like Google, Facebook and eBay, along with exploring the smaller start-ups and incubators, is something that only happens in Silicon Valley,’ Colson said. ‘There is literally no other place on earth that you can go to experience all of this energy and momentum — especially not in one week.’

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Published on November 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Diana: [email protected] | @dianapearl_