Stories & Updates

For many college students, graduation marks the terrifying unknown of entering the traditional job market. But for Willem Westra, who graduated from the University of Delaware in 2022, the journey took an ambitious turn.

A D1 wide receiver, finance student and son of the founder of the world-renowned Parisi Speed School, Dan has spent his whole life inside the world of performance and potential. As a recent UD graduate heading to Johns Hopkins for his Master’s in Organizational Leadership, he's taking everything he's built on the field, in the classroom, and online, into his next chapter.

Darian Elmendorf’s path as a founder began with a deeply personal mission: making mental health support more accessible, relatable and sustainable. As he returned home to restart the project years ago, he turned a broad mental health group landscape into a specialized workforce development firm through Polaris Pathways.

A dedicated member of the Horn Entrepreneurship community, Cate Leidich, class of 2026, continuously challenged herself while building a path that reflects her passions and goals. Throughout her time at Horn, Cate found more than just academic opportunities, she found a community that encouraged her growth in all aspects.

From housing to fightwear to agricultural robotics, UD Summer Founders alumni share how 12 weeks of mentoring and customer discovery changed everything.

Before she ever joined Horn full-time, Sophia Cressman already felt right at home in the Venture Development Center as a Siegfried Fellow, a Delaware Innovation Fellow, and one of those friendly faces you just expect to see around the VDC. Now, as Program Coordinator for the Siegfried Fellows and the UD Coalition on Character Development, Sophia helps students grow as leaders through mentorship, meaningful conversations, and days that are anything but routine. If you’ve walked into the VDC lately, there’s a good chance you’ve been welcomed by Sophia from her front-corner office. Keep reading to learn what fuels her work, what she’s up to when she’s off the clock (spoiler: live music + beach days), and a fun fact you definitely won’t see coming.

Alec Boyd is a fall 2025 entrepreneurship grad with a minor in professional selling and sales management and a familiar face in the Venture Development Center. When he tried to transfer a few community college courses back to the University of Delaware to save time and tuition, he hit a wall of PDFs, emails, and outdated processes. Alec leveraged his coursework plus VentureOn, Pitch Party, and Hen Hatch to turn a personal frustration into a tool that can save students real time and real money: Equivly.

Building parts that stand three feet tall isn’t an everyday 3D printing job and that’s exactly where Relay Manufacturing thrives. The manufacturing services company helps organizations bridge the gap between design and production through large-format additive manufacturing and other manufacturing services. The venture was founded by Rich Hayburn, a University of Delaware Class of 2020 graduate who studied Mechanical Engineering with an Integrated Design minor, along with a math minor and manufacturing concentration. While at UD, Rich leaned into Horn Entrepreneurship through Summer Founders, NSF I-Corps, and VentureOn, experiences that helped him turn hands-on problem solving into a growing business.

The 15 latest recipients of Blue Hen 17&43 awards were announced at the recent Blue Hen Innovation Fest. These awards are Horn Entrepreneurship and the Lerner College of Business & Economics’annual recognition of the most promising early-stage startups founded by University of Delaware alumni.

Six more people have been inducted into Horn Entrepreneurship’s Honor Circle of Innovators, which recognizes transformational leaders who shape the future through innovation and entrepreneurship in Delaware and beyond.