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Business Week returns to PLU
June 29, 2007
Nearly 200 high school students from across the state flocked to PLU for Washington Business Week’s Summer Program June 25 through 30.
The weeklong event marked the second time the annual program was hosted by PLU. Last year, PLU became the program’s first South Sound location.
A diverse group of students participated in the event, ranging from high school freshmen to seniors. The students participated in business simulations and seminars aimed at providing them with a better understanding of business and free enterprise.
“I’ve learned a lot,” said Cary Eick. Seminars led by local business leaders on topics ranging from corporate citizenship to investing and advertising proved especially educational, he added.
Eick learned about the program at a job fair and decided to participate because someday he wants to open his own bookstore, he said.
“I want to get into business,” Eick said. “For me, it sounded like the best thing.”
During the week, students were divided into “companies” of 10, plus a volunteer mentor from the surrounding business community. The mentors helped guide the students through managing a simulated business.
The business simulation was a competition that challenged students to create the most profitable organization. Student companies each claimed a room in Foss Hall as their company headquarters, posting charts and graphs to track the progress of their simulated business selling portable DVD players.
Every day, students made one or two business decisions, ranging from which applicant to hire to the ethics involved in issuing a product recall. Their decisions were evaluated and scored by a computer program. The students received a printout of the company’s performance after each evaluation, which they then used to decide how to re-allocate their resources.
Boeing finance staff member Jonathan Larsen served as the mentor for Eick’s group. He stressed that mentors served merely as facilitators during the simulation. The more decisions the students made on their own, the more they learned, he said.
The event’s grand finale was a trade show where each student company created a brand new product and marketed it to “investors” – local businesspeople who volunteered to act as judges – applying what they learned during the week.
PLU’s program is one of four summer program sessions offered statewide. The program started in 1976 at Central Washington University in Ellensburg and eventually expanded to Gonzaga University in Spokane and Western Washington University in Bellingham. To learn more about the event, visit www.wbw.org.
A diverse group of students participated in the event, ranging from high school freshmen to seniors. The students participated in business simulations and seminars aimed at providing them with a better understanding of business and free enterprise.
“I’ve learned a lot,” said Cary Eick. Seminars led by local business leaders on topics ranging from corporate citizenship to investing and advertising proved especially educational, he added.
Eick learned about the program at a job fair and decided to participate because someday he wants to open his own bookstore, he said.
“I want to get into business,” Eick said. “For me, it sounded like the best thing.”
During the week, students were divided into “companies” of 10, plus a volunteer mentor from the surrounding business community. The mentors helped guide the students through managing a simulated business.
The business simulation was a competition that challenged students to create the most profitable organization. Student companies each claimed a room in Foss Hall as their company headquarters, posting charts and graphs to track the progress of their simulated business selling portable DVD players.
Every day, students made one or two business decisions, ranging from which applicant to hire to the ethics involved in issuing a product recall. Their decisions were evaluated and scored by a computer program. The students received a printout of the company’s performance after each evaluation, which they then used to decide how to re-allocate their resources.
Boeing finance staff member Jonathan Larsen served as the mentor for Eick’s group. He stressed that mentors served merely as facilitators during the simulation. The more decisions the students made on their own, the more they learned, he said.
The event’s grand finale was a trade show where each student company created a brand new product and marketed it to “investors” – local businesspeople who volunteered to act as judges – applying what they learned during the week.
PLU’s program is one of four summer program sessions offered statewide. The program started in 1976 at Central Washington University in Ellensburg and eventually expanded to Gonzaga University in Spokane and Western Washington University in Bellingham. To learn more about the event, visit www.wbw.org.