@5d71550a10bb07de12bc19f74c7ff6fa00b7ec40f85aa3af6403acea778b5ef9 [Posted on DevHub](/devgovgigs.near/widget/Post?id=2348) ## Idea: NEAR Campus and BU Blockchain - October/November Reflection *This feedback is for the following NEAR Campus activities for Boston University as described here: https://near.social/devgovgigs.near/widget/gigs-board.pages.Post?id=1629* Establishing a NEAR Node at Boston University Our deliverables: We set an ambitious goal for ourselves of meeting eight different deliverables during the month of November, and as of November 15th, we’re ecstatic to announce that we have met all of them. Below, you will find each deliverable with a description as to the event/project/initiative itself, as well as images documenting our excitement to be partnered with the NEAR Campus community. Create materials for members to reference regarding the NEAR Protocol in an easy-to-digest fashion. These will include graphics, presentations, and asynchronous guides to help give our members a nuanced understanding of NEAR. Linked here, you’ll find our slides from our November 15th kickoff event. Update the website with materials and create a specific NEAR Campus resource page for our members. (USD 100 for site building and hosting to support new content more consistently). In the initiatives section of our website, we’ve listed NEAR Campus as our #1 initiative and have also linked a multitude of resources for those looking to get their start in the ecosystem. Additionally, we’ve added a ‘resources’ tab to which we are going to fill with additional guides for our members that are NEAR-Specific. As our flagship supporter and member of the NEAR Campus community, we aim to onboard as many Boston University students to the NEAR Ecosystem and bring to light the true benefits of the decentralized web. Merchandise for builders that encourages BU Blockchain team spirit and lists the Foundation as a sponsor. This would be in the form of windbreakers and available to members who show the most support for initiatives and are active contributors to the community. They would be available at USD 25 to members, whereas the wholesale price is about USD 50. Through this, word-of-mouth talk about the NEAR campus will begin to increase, doubling as a unification strategy and a word-of-mouth recruitment strategy. (USD 350 for ten windbreakers with the NEAR logo prominently on the back). As a result of obtaining merchandise, we’ve been able to generate buzz about NEAR Campus and our organization, effectively driving up recruitment during the later part of our fall semester, despite the odds. Establish a connection with those involved in NEAR Campus and its network to finalize contact points for aid with events. - We’ve established a small network of contacts within the NEAR family to assist us in facilitating speaker events, engagements, and organizing events that best fit the mission of NEAR Campus. Create a schedule for Spring 2024 and the end of the Fall 2023 semester, and lock in essential dates/events/workshops. Each workshop met a deliverable(s), as listed here: - BU Blockchain has been hard at work behind the scenes finalizing the calendar for the rest of the Fall semester and we intend to hold three events for the rest of the semester, as listed below: - 6: 1 Nov: Boba and Blockchain: We held a small introductory workshop for members, with food and refreshments provided, bubble tea and Mochinuts from a local bakery. We briefly introduced NEAR as our flagship sponsor for the academic year and answered questions our members had pertaining to the organization and how they can begin to tinker with the BOS. We estimated $300 and 60 attendees as our event cost, and were able to deliver a high-quality workshop to about 54 attendees keeping within our event budget. - 7. 15 Nov: Welcome to the NEAR Year: Hold another workshop that's blockchain-101 style (with a NEAR twist) to aid our members in onboarding onto the Ecosystem, as well as establishing a new support network for our members and curious builders. We estimated XX attendees at this event, and were able to deliver a high-quality presentation and formal introduction to NEAR. We estimated $250 for food and stuck to that as well, and also awarded a total of 80 NEAR (20 NEAR for 4 people) for completing onboarding steps and deploying small projects to testnet, ultimately incentivizing participation, recruitment, outreach, and morale when building on a new platform. - Our Dec 9 event will be a culminating event for the end of the semester, and can be found in our December DevHub request. - During the Spring semester of 2024, we have a total of 15 general body meetings planned. 6-7 of these meetings will pertain to NEAR Campus and the various initiatives we have planned throughout the season. We have 12 advanced technical meetings led by our technical team, with 5 of those meetings being devoted to NEAR Campus and continued building. - Our larger-scale formal event held in late February will be the pinnacle of our university blockchain organization’s success in onboarding a new generation of creators onto NEAR Protocol, and we intend to award NEAR the title of flagship sponsor at this event. 8. Bring awareness to new NEAR initiatives, the benefits of an open-source network, and the benefits of contributing to it. - In all that we do as university blockchain enthusiasts, we aim to bring light to how Boston University Blockchain works hand-in-hand with the NEAR developer community to enrich our members with knowledge pertaining to the Protocol, as well as how they can take their ideas from testnet to mainnet. As we have now been able to recruit additional members during the middle of the semester, our goal to promote and bring visibility to NEAR will begin to merge with member retention, recruitment, and development. Our goal is to empower our members with the proper tools needed in the ecosystem to succeed, and watch and support them as they create the next big idea. With NEAR Campus’s support, we see a fruitful partnership that will potentially even lead to Boston being the next NEAR Hub IRL.