MIT Spark — Episode 01: Above the Clouds
Event Description
MIT Spark made its inaugural debut with Purnima Shrestha — 2026 Guinness World Record Holder, Mountaineer, Photojournalist, and UNDP Climate Influencer. Over one hour, she shared her journey of resilience, purpose, and climbing Everest three times in 13 days. The session closed with the signature paper plane launch — 60+ students writing their personal Everests and sending them above the clouds together. 97% of respondents left Inspired or Highly Inspired.
MIT Entrepreneurship Club · 24th March, 2026 · MIT Conference Hall
On Chaitra 10, 2081, the MIT Entrepreneurship Club launched MIT Spark — a recurring speaker and storytelling series designed to bring real, extraordinary stories to the MIT College campus.
The inaugural episode, titled Above the Clouds, featured Purnima Shrestha — a 2026 Guinness World Record holder who summited Mount Everest three times in just 13 days, and a photojournalist and UNDP Climate Influencer who documents climate change from the world's highest peaks.
MIT Spark is not a conventional entrepreneurship event. It is a platform for students across all disciplines to hear from people who have built, climbed, created, and changed something — and to carry those stories back into their own lives. Operating under two tracks, the Spark Dialogue and the Spark Masterclass, the series is designed to alternate between deep one-to-one conversations with founders and hands-on technical sessions with industry experts.
Episode 01 was a special inaugural format. Purnima spoke for one uninterrupted hour — in her own words, without an interview, without a script — about her journey from photojournalist to record-breaking mountaineer, her work documenting the climate crisis from Everest, and what it truly means to rise above the clouds. The session was followed by an open audience Q&A and a formal token of appreciation ceremony.
The event closed with the inaugural paper plane launch — a signature MIT Spark ritual. Every attendee received an orange paper plane template at their seat before the session began. They were invited to write their personal Everest on the plane, and at the close of the event, the entire room launched their planes simultaneously. The ritual collected 29 written responses — 97% of which rated the session as Inspired or Highly Inspired, with 0% neutral responses.
The event welcomed 60+ attendees, with a significant proportion being organic walk-ins from ongoing day classes — a reflection of strong on-campus interest in the series. MIT Spark Episode 01 generated approximately 2,977 impressions across Instagram within 48 hours of the event, with the token of appreciation photo generating the highest engagement at 1,500 views.
MIT Spark Episode 01 is officially in the record. MIT Spark Episode 02 is coming.
