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Adarsh Sharma ’27 picks one skill each semester and goes all in on that. Two semesters ago, the skill was communication, which had a side benefit of confidence. Last semester was about making things.
To enhance his communication abilities, Sharma took a job during the 2024-25 school year as an engagement ambassador – more commonly known as a Grinfluencer – for the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. A team of six students work as Grinfluencers to provide Grinnellians with insight into the student experience through social media content and events.
“I wanted to go all out and challenge myself to a position that forced me to make content,” Sharma says. “I also did a podcast with the CLS and was a radio host on KDIC. I want to improve my communication skills and be a better creator. I want to be more open and have more confidence in general talking to people.”
A confluence of factors brought Sharma to Grinnell, where he double majors in computer science and economics. Correspondence with a current student about the opportunities for computer science majors and subsequent career paths was a major factor as was the College’s considerable financial aid. Young alumni success stories also made Grinnell enticing.
“I saw how a couple of alumni like Ham Serunjogi ’16 with Chipper Cash and Albert Owusu-Asare ’16, who was the founder of Cadana Inc., were making decent sized companies,” Sharma says. “Even with a small campus, Grinnell has had these recent entrepreneurs.”
In his first two years on campus, Sharma has been involved in numerous endeavors because he wants to learn what people at the College do. In addition to being a Grinfluencer and hosting the Going Forth Podcast, Sharma worked Reunion 2024 as an ambassador for the 5th reunion class. He is a lead financial analyst for Pioneer Capital Investments and has taken part in Pioneer Weekend, stock trading competitions, and several coding competitions, called hackathons.
“It’s a 24-hour or 36-hour event,” Sharma explains. “You go to the venue and make teams there, so students have to go out of their comfort zone to interact with other college students whom they are meeting for the first time and work together with them for the duration of the hackathon. What we have to do is build a software and hardware product – either a general one or for the company sponsoring the event. It doesn’t have to be very sophistical. It just has to be working. It’s not an ideation hackathon, but you do have to learn skills you’d have to know in day-to-day business life. It’s the same skillset.”
Sharma has competed at hackathons at Harvard, Princeton, the University of Kansas, and Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Funding for the trips have come from the Donald and Winifred Wilson Center for Innovation and Leadership. Sharma is appreciative of alumni making gifts to the Wilson Center to help make his trips possible.
“The alumni support has been great,” he says. “If I have to sell someone on coming to Grinnell, I would mention the Wilson Center. Thanks to donors, they can help fund you, so you can experiment with a wide range of events and programs.”
Assistant Director of Development and Alumni Relations – Communications
Two past videos of Sharma’s Harvard hackathon experience can be viewed on the Grinnell Alumni & Friends Instagram page. The same page also has videos made by all of Grinnell’s student Grinfluencers.
To read more alumni news, check out our news archive and like the Alumni & Friends Facebook page.
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