A burgeoning partnership with Junior Achievement of San Diego and Imperial Counties, and a desire to develop long-lasting relationships in the business community is helping Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) shape tomorrow’s business leaders today.
Junior Achievement, along with PLNU’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), will host the 2nd Annual Entrepreneurial Convention on Tuesday, March 11, at PLNU’s Fermanian School of Business. This year the event is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. Sixty-five high school students participating in this partnership, and 22 PLNU students will hear lectures from PLNU faculty members, as well as participate in breakout sessions with topics ranging from ethics training to financial consulting to creating, writing and executing a business plan. Students will also have the opportunity to network with local business professionals who are also speaking at the event, at a lunch catered by Papa John’s, including experts from the areas of marketing, entrepreneurship and non-profits.
Based on last year’s success, the PLNU SIFE team is hoping to continue its community outreach project, known as “The JA Company Program,” which takes students from local high schools and educates them about business and free market enterprise. The high schoolers have formed teams and are developing philanthropic micro-firms with a goal of setting up a business model for a non-profit company.
The students from Patrick Henry, Morse, San Diego Met, Kearney, and Mission Bay high schools, will be mentored by undergrads from PLNU’s SIFE chapter, as they learn about working as a team, and the different aspects of business, including entrepreneurship, finance, marketing and ethics. There are a total of 350 high school students involved in the partnership.
The entire project will culminate with a celebration and awards ceremony – scheduled for late May – where the student teams will have the chance to present their philanthropic ventures and will hear from guest speakers and PLNU faculty members. The student projects will be judged collectively by representatives from Junior Achievement, SIFE and PLNU. They will give their final results and the winning teams will receive rewards. In addition, one lucky team may be chosen to receive venture capital and further advising to move their project forward.
The conference is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. For more information, or to RSVP, visit http://www.pointloma.edu/Fermanian/FBCEvents/ExecutiveDevelopmentEventSchedule.htm.