Students in Resilience at Work: Promoting Creativity and Wellbeing in Teams, an Autumn Term class led by Jennifer Knippen, Ph.D., visited spARK Labs by ARK Invest in Saint Petersburg’s Innovation District to learn from local entrepreneurs about the importance of collaboration in business. Photos by Madison DeVore ’25
“Regardless of where I end up, you’re going to have to work in a team,” says Hayden Watson, a first-year student from Mount Washington, Kentucky.
Watson, who wants to study marine science, is enrolled in an Autumn Term course all about preparing for the workplace. Led by Associate Professor of Management Jennifer Miner Knippen, Ph.D., the class “Resilience at work: Promoting Creativity and Wellbeing in Teams” explores team effectiveness, personal wellbeing and collaborative innovation. But this work doesn’t stop in the classroom.
Knippen planned several activities outside the classroom to engage students in team-building exercises, bonding activities, and understanding the local opportunities available. Students visited the Eckerd College Community Farm and considered the most effective way to complete their task. They ventured to a ropes course to connect with one another. The class traveled to Saint Petersburg’s Innovation District to visit spARK Labs by ARK Invest, a nonprofit innovation hub for founders and entrepreneurs.
Regardless of the field, Knippen can’t think of a job where you don’t encounter the question of what it means to work effectively as a team.
Becca Brown, CEO of spARK Labs by ARK Invest addresses visiting Eckerd College students.
spARK Labs by ARK Invest is a nonprofit innovation hub for founders and entrepreneurs, located in St. Petersburg’s Innovation District.
“It [the class] sounded like something legitimately useful,” Hayden says. “I had a lot of group work in high school and it didn’t always go the best. It usually resulted with one person doing all of the work.”
In recent years, several media outlets and online discussions have debated the stereotype that Gen-Z is lazy and unprepared for the workplace.
“I see quite the opposite,” Knippen says of her students. She sees “a desire to live authentically.”
Knippen says her students want to identify their values and sources of well-being and incorporate that into their work–rather than sacrifice them for work. To help students see what a workplace can look like, they formed small groups and observed teams across campus. Hayden monitored the Eckerd College Search and Rescue Team, a trained group of student volunteers who work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, 911 Emergency Medical Response and other agencies to answer hundreds of maritime distress calls per year.
Hayden says she was expecting something like “Baywatch” before she saw EC-SAR in action for the first time.
“It was just surprising to see how everybody knew exactly what they were doing and where they needed to be,” she says.
Hayden noticed everyone on the team was on time, prepared for work and made an effort to include everyone. Afterwards, she and her classmates gave a 20-minute presentation. Hayden’s classmate asked if she recommends working for EC-SAR. If you have the time to commit to it, then yes, she told them.
During their tour of spARK Labs, the students explored a podcast studio outfitted with a generative AI graphics screen behind the hosts’ chairs.
During the spARK Labs visit, students met several entrepreneurs and heard from CEO and President Becca Brown. Students learned about the importance of collaboration, finding solutions when you inevitably hit roadblocks and the role of AI in business. Rovex, a robotics company, is just one of the innovative ideas discussed. Rovex launched a partnership in April with BayCare Health System to evaluate how robotics may support hospital operations and patient transport workflows, according to BayCare.
Hayden thought it was interesting to see the physical space of spARK Labs and sees that there’s collaboration wherever you are. Not only have students engaged with the course content, but during Autumn Term, students interact with their professor as a mentor too.
“When I went to my mentor meeting,” Hayden says, “she actually, genuinely, seemed interested.”
In class, Hayden says Knippen considers everyone’s answers, is understanding and allows open discussion. Hayden adds that her professor has eased the transition from high school to college by sending reminder emails about class work. Hayden and her group even visited the Rahall Communication Center, which has staff providing instructive feedback for presentations, prior to her first-ever college presentation.
Whether you want to be a marine scientist like Hayden, an entrepreneur or policymaker, this course helps lay a foundation of what it means to be a leader, work with others efficiently and maintain your personal values.
The skills and knowledge that make a strong student, Knippen adds, are the same skills that set them up for a successful career.
Eckerd students heard important lessons from spARK Labs by ARK Invest CEO Becca Brown and several entrepreneurs as part of the Autumn Term class Resilience at Work: Promoting Creativity and Wellbeing in Teams.
