Posted by Noa Havazelet, Program Manager, Google Developer Student Clubs, UK & Ireland
With 1,600 students by his side, Jack Lee grew the largest Google Developer Student Club in the world in just 6 months at the London School of Economics (LSE). A life-long athlete, who loves leading teams, Jack saw that reigniting his university’s GDSC would be a great opportunity to have a large impact on the local tech scene. With a heavy focus on partnerships, Jack connected members of his club with leaders at top companies and other student groups across Scotland, France, Norway, Canada, and Nigeria. These collaborations enabled students to practice networking, while gaining access to key internships.
Learn more about Jack and his club below.
Image of Jack Lee speaking at a GDSC event
Leaders like Jack Lee make Google Developer Student Clubs around the world special by providing a trusted and fun space for student-to-student mentorship. When students step up to help their peers, a strong camaraderie and support system forms beyond the classroom.
One of the secrets to Jack’s success was to appeal to both computer science students as well as those with a non-technical background, like business majors. To inspire more students with different backgrounds to join the club, Jack put together a team of additional student leaders. Under his leadership, this team had the freedom to independently build tech-focused events that would interest students across the university.
Image of GDSC LSE team
After the first semester, Jack’s approach was working. They hosted over 80 events, covering a wide range of topics including front end web development and career talks with financial firms.
The intersection of students with different backgrounds inspired club members to work together on community projects, utilizing their different skills. In fact, a few club members formed teams to solve for one of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. As part of the Google Developer Student Clubs 2021 Solution Challenge, students from the London School of Economics developed prototype solutions for NGOs on 1) wildfire analysis using TensorFlow, 2) raising donations and grant access, and 3) increasing voter registrations.
As more students continued to join their GDSC, Jack decided to up the tempo to keep the momentum going.
Since the London School of Economics is not only a tech-focused university, Jack requested support from a team at Google for Startups. Together they reached out to some of the world’s largest firms and startups to collaborate on events and specialized programs for the student club. Jack’s GDSC established relationships with 6 partners, and 3 local sponsors from startups, NGOs, and financial firms. All these partners contributed to nearly 30 events throughout the academic year, which included:
These events started catching the attention of students across Europe and Asia, with some
students who could not afford to attend university reaching out for technical learning
resources and opportunities.
Connecting 150 students to mentors from different startups is one of the achievements that makes Jack and the club leaders most proud.
This is yet another example of how Jack’s determination to grow a stronger community led him to build a global Google Developer Student Club that left a profound impact on his fellow students.
If you’re also a student and want to join a Google Developer Student Club community like this, find one near you here.
