Mission Accomplished

While it’s one of the busiest times of the year, this is always an exciting time for us. I love seeing the results of the students’ hard work in their final business plans and tradeshows, the testimonials we hear from parents, teachers and students as they wrap up the year, the positive results we see reflected on end of year surveys and post tests, and the excitement of the many hands-on business experience opportunities students will be able to experience this summer through the generosity of partnering companies. 

None of this is possible without the support of our many donors and volunteers. As we wrap up our fiscal year on May 31, I cannot begin to express enough the appreciation I have for the inspiration I’ve received and lessons learned - both personally and professionally - from the many meetings I’ve had with successful entrepreneurs and businesses in the communities we serve. Each one fills me with more passion and fulfillment for the work we do and the work of each of our businesses in contributing to the betterment of our communities. I know our staff and teachers feel the same. Youth Entrepreneurs’ program and business continues to evolve with each new nugget of information learned and support invested. 

As we wrap up another successful annual campaign drive, reaching an amazing 120% to goal, I think it’s evident that our donors increasingly realize the importance of teaching today’s youth entrepreneurial skills that will pave a path to success. Entrepreneurship is not just one more course in our area high schools; it is something that will have a high and positive impact on the world we live in. Job creation, economic prosperity and improvement of social welfare are critical goals, and entrepreneurship is a catalyst on the path to their accomplishment. Thank you to all our supporters for investing in the lives of our students and communities!

-From guest blogger Phoebe Bachura

Dreams become Dividends

Four Days, 850 miles, and a lot of smiles!  This was the week that Kylie Stupka and I shared.  Kylie and I traveled across the state to our four Regional Dreams to Dividends ceremonies and were able to see many of our YE students receive scholarships and venture capital awards; along with celebrating our wonderful volunteers, teachers, community supporters and most importantly our students!

Dreams to Dividends is also a chance for us to see some of our students showcase their business plans via a “showcase trade-show.”  I heard so many comments from attendees that our students had wonderful plans and that they were impressed by our students’ ability to speak confidently and passionately about their plans.

Eric Hren spoke at our Kansas City Regional Dreams to Dividends on behalf of the Cerner Corporation and their sponsorship of our Kansas City Metro Business Plan Competition.  He shared the sentiment he’s often heard that this generation of students is lacking passion and is on the path to fail. However, after speaking with our attending students, he stated that if the rest of this generation of students were like our YE students, who inspired him with passion and enthusiasm, then society would be absolutely wrong about their path to failure! 

One of the highlights of each evening was finding out which students would be moving on to The Finals.  You could sense the anticipation in the room on all four nights, and it was exciting to watch the reactions from students, parents and teachers to see how proud and excited they were to be moving on in the competition. 

Patty Brown from The Rotary Club of Wichita, who sponsored the Wichita area Business Plan Competition, mentioned how impressed Rotarian judges were with this year’s student business plans and presentations.  It made me thankful that I wasn’t one of the judges faced with the difficulty of choosing the winners this year! 

At the Southwest Regional Dreams to Dividends, event sponsor Mike Weber of Weber Refrigeration and Heating challenged our students to find a need to service in order to be successful.  I know that our students are up for this challenge!

We are extremely grateful, as we certainly could not have awarded $27,200 in venture capital funding without the support of the above sponsors and others, or the $102,500 in higher education scholarships without our many scholarship partners:
           

·         Dodge City Community College

·         Ellis Foundation

·         Emporia State University

·         Garden City Community College

·         H&R Block

·         Newman University

·         Meritrust Credit Union

·         Shelter Insurance

·         W. Frank Barton School of Business and Center for Entrepreneurship at Wichita State University

·         Washburn University

·         Wichita Area Technical College

I know that our entire staff is so proud of all of our students, not just those who were awarded scholarships or Venture Capital but all of our students for completing the YE year.  We can’t wait to see where the road ahead is going to lead them!  Congratulations to all of our students on a great year! 

Chelsey Karlin

YE Program Coordinator

Teacher of the Year at NFTE's Gala

Welcome to NYC. We have just arrived in Times Square to attend NFTE’s Annual Dare to Dream Awards Gala. My husband, Kevin is with me. It’s our second trip the New York & we want to squeeze in everything possible!

Later, we attend an Italian dinner with NFTE founder, Steve Marriotti. During the dinner, we meet teachers from across the United States and 9 other countries. 

Wednesday morning we stop by the set of the Today show. There was a large promotion for the Summer Olympics –just 100 days away. On the show this morning were gold medal winners from the 1948 Olympics.

The remainder of the morning we visited the WTC Memorial. The work so far is awesome. Security @ the WTC is tight.

After this we head to NikeTown! Five floors of the latest in athletic wear. They even have a special design gallery to custom design your kicks. My husband scores a new pair of shoes… Who wouldn’t love this store?!

That night we attend the Gala—held @ Marriott Hotel (Times Square). The showcase by the Young Entrepreneurs of the Year are super. We had a great time & enjoyed our experience.

Thanks so much for this opportunity!

 - Guest Blogger, Janet Hartley, Wichita West High School Youth Entrepreneurs Teacher & NFTE Teacher of the Year

Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Gala

Kenon Thompson is a guest blogger for us this week. Kenon shares with us his adventures in New York City during the NFTE Gala. Kenon was awarded the Global Entrepreneur of the Year Award! Congrats and thanks for sharing your experience with us!

http://www.kenonthompson.com/2/post/2012/05/2012-nfte-global-young-entrepreneurs-of-the-year.html