Know Before You Go: Students@SC Focus

You Have the Best Badge in the Building

Students@SC exists so that the week works for you, not around you. Student Headquarters in W474 is your base camp from Saturday through Friday: check in, charge up, grab a snack, meet someone, ask the question you’ve been sitting on. Orientation and the Students@SC Opening Reception on Saturday night, November 14, are where the week starts, and the people you meet that night tend to be the people you’re still texting in March. Everything you need to know, including the full student schedule, lives at Students@SC.

However You Came, You Are Here to Compete, Build, or Serve

If you’re on a Student Cluster Competition or SCC Connect team, Booth 1600/1800 on the exhibit floor is yours for the week, and the kickoff Monday night happens in the middle of the Grand Opening Gala with the whole conference watching. If you’re a Student Volunteer, you’ll spend the week in rooms most attendees never see: behind the keynote stage, inside the SCinet network operations center, at the door of receptions when the conference leadership walks in. Take the shift that sounds a little intimidating. That’s the one you’ll tell stories about.

The People You Want to Meet Signed Up to Meet You

Speed Mentoring on Tuesday brings researchers and engineers from national laboratories, universities, and industry into one room specifically to talk with students. Come with one real question about where you’re headed, not a résumé pitch. If you joined Mentor–Protégé Matching, the breakfast is Tuesday morning. And the Career Fair on Wednesday puts labs, vendors, and startups with real openings in one hall. Print a few résumés. Ask recruiters what they’d want to see from you a year from now then go find out at the Students@SC Alumni Reception that afternoon, where people who sat exactly where you’re sitting turned it into a career.

Your Badge Opens Every Door

The Keynote, the panels, the Birds of a Feather sessions, the exhibit floor, the Gordon Bell finalists, the award talks: all of it is yours. Browse the full program, build a schedule, and then let yourself wander off it. Some of the best conversations at SC happen in the hallway outside the session you decided to skip.

Chicago, with Care

The city is extraordinary and it is cold, so a few things to know. The L is the best way to see it, and the Red Line runs all night. After dark, travel with a friend or take a rideshare rather than walking long stretches and slip your badge into a pocket once you leave McCormick Place. Inside, SC has built a whole layer of support around you: the Community Engagement team runs the Community Engagement Office in W186a for anything from a lost badge to a situation you’d rather not handle alone, along with a Low-Stimulation Space, a Prayer Room, a Parents’ Room, Comfort Dogs at midday, and Information Booths on the Central Concourse and outside W182 and W190A staffed by people who want to be asked questions. The Code of Conduct applies to everyone, everywhere, all week. If something feels off, find any committee member and say so.

Thursday afternoon, we will gather one more time in W474 to wrap up, trade stories, and start talking about SC27. Between now and then: pack comfortable shoes, a real coat, and a charger. Chicago is going to be loud, bright, (potentially) freezing, and unforgettable, and the week is going to fly. We can’t wait to see what you do with it. See you in Chicago soon!