For the fifth summer, the Center for Economic Education at Lynchburg College is a co-sponsor for blue KIWI (Kids in the Workforce Institute) entrepreneurship day-camps for children between the ages of 8 and 12, as well as the residential program, Grow One™ Summer Camp for rising seventh graders.
Four day-camps will be held this summer: July 7-11, July 14-18, July 21-25, and August 4-8, 2008. The camp allows fifteen "campers" each session to start their own businesses and become a governing citizen in a true-to-life society. Local business persons are invited to share their experiences with the campers to enrich their learning experiences.
Campers also take campus tours during lunch periods to expose them to the College's dining hall (a business within a business), classrooms, dorms, and library. An ice cream social and "launch" (graduation) is held on Friday of each camp week. At that time, parents and friends are invited to shop at the children's businesses.
The Center for Economic Education at Lynchburg College, City of Lynchburg Office of Economic Development, and blue KIWI are also partnering to offer a unique residential program, Grow One™ Summer Camp for the second year in a row. Area schools have selected 50 promising rising seventh-grade students for one week of entrepreneurial and leadership education and experiences on the Lynchburg College campus from July 27 - August 1.
Students will work in small groups learning economic principles, entrepreneurship concepts, and important life and citizenship skills necessary for their future success. They will complete the Mini-Society® experience-based instructional system, developed by Dr. Marilyn Kourilsky, a former UCLA professor as well as Start Something™ from the Tiger Woods Foundation.
In addition to daytime activities, students will get to meet with the owner of Putt-Putt Family Fun Center to learn the differences between independent and franchise ownership, as well as listen to a panel of entrepreneurs talk about their successes and failures, according to Shirley Deen, business relations manager for the City of Lynchburg Office of Economic Development.
This program is made possible by donations from area governments and businesses. The program also received a $6,000 grant from Staples Foundation for Learning.
Earlier this summer, Center for Economic Education at Lynchburg College in partnership with the Center for Economic Education at Radford University offered a three-day training for teachers and adult volunteers to learn how to use the entrepreneurship curriculum, underwritten by a grant made possible by the National Council on Economic Education through funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
For more information, contact Cheryl Ayers, director for the LC Center of Economic Education, at 544-8791 or Shirley Deen at 455-4493.
The Center for Economic Education at Lynchburg College is one of a statewide network of centers located at Virginia's colleges and universities supported by the Virginia Council on Economic Education.