With that in mind, HACC’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies is holding its first Kidz Biz camp designed to provide an entrepreneurial adventure for students in grades 5-8. The four-day camp will be held from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Thursday, June 23-26, 2008, at the C. Ted Wildwood Conference Center on the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College.
“Young students have so much energy and lots of creative ideas that could be turned into profitable ventures,” says David McNaughton, Business Counselor at the Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.
“We wanted to share a dream with them and show them how it could become a reality,” he says.
Middle schoolers who sign up for the camp will learn about the business world from local business pros, who also will ask the students to help introduce an ad campaign or develop product packaging. They’ll learn how to make an elevator (sales) pitch, develop a brochure, flier or logo and run a business meeting.
Participants will learn the ins and outs of starting a business by engaging in fun-filled entrepreneurial activities that will teach them how to start a business by exploring such concepts as product development and design, marketing and promoting your ideas, tracking business success, and handling finances, McNaughton says.
A certificate of completion will be given to each camper.
The idea for Kidz Biz grew out of last summer’s Career Kaleidoscope at HACC, with business counselors introducing to the children the business development thinking process, says McNaughton.
“We - the counselors and students - had so much fun exploring the world of owning, of starting and operating one’s own business that we wanted to introduce the concept in more detail" this summer, he says.
Cost of the four-day camp is $75, including lunch. Registration is limited. For more information or to register, call 221-1312 or go back to HACC's home page and search Kidz Biz.