BestPrep

Today was Day 5 of Minnesota Business Venture! The theme for today was Empowerment Day, sponsored by the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. We opened with a keynote by speaker KELLY McCLELLAN about presentation tips. McClellan emphasized the importance of preparation and staying true to the message of your speech while presenting. After the keynote, campers had some last-minute prep time, and then it was time for them to present! For presentations, companies presented on topics ranging from 3D printing organs to help those in need of them, devices that would prevent car theft, and sensors that would monitor sleep patterns and give recommendations accordingly. After campers requested the amount for their loan, judges had time for themselves to deliberate and decide how much of the loan they were willing to give. Finally, campers would be invited back into the room to hear the results and receive valuable feedback! In the afternoon, campers had another keynote by Bella Nhi Lam about her experience with creating her vegan baking company, Coconut Whisk. Lam states that her passion for her company and her dream to see her products in stores drove her to bring her company to success. In the evening, campers had several fun activities to celebrate the completion of their business presentations. We are so proud of our campers, and all the hard work they put in this week!

Today was Day 4 of Minnesota Business Venture! The theme was Financial Freedom Day, and our greatly appreciated sponsor for today is Piper Sandler Companies. In the morning, campers had a keynote by speaker Bryan Polley, CFP® from U.S. Bank. In his speech, Polley discussed how money could be managed and prioritized by finding your most important values, and directing your income towards those values and commitments. After this, campers had Philanthropy breakouts, where people from 3M, Allianz Life, Cargill, U.S. Bank, and Piper Sandler talked about how their company gave back to the community through philanthropy and charity. Camper learned that donating to important organizations is important for businesses because not only is it an investment for the future of the business, but it also gives an opportunity to give back to the community and improve the quality of life for the people affected. In the evening, campers attended Financial Literacy breakouts, where business professionals gave lectures on various aspects of financial literacy, from paying for college to investing. The skills campers learn from these lectures are incredibly important for being able to achieve financial success in the future. Campers start wrapping up their work on the business plan and prepare to present tomorrow!

Today was Day 3 of Minnesota Business Venture! The theme for today was Entrepreneur Day. Our amazing sponsor for today is Cargill. In the morning, campers attended a one-on-one mock interview, where the interviewers were volunteers who are involved in local businesses. These interviews helped campers prepare for the real-life interviews they will no doubt face in the real world, while also helping them practice public speaking skills. In the afternoon, we had a keynote by speaker Shamus O'Meara from Highland Popcorn, who talked about his experience with starting a nonprofit popcorn store with his son that hires people with developmental and intellectual disabilities in order to elevate their lives and open up opportunities that they are often denied. After that, campers attended one breakout session based on their role in their company. Those in marketing went to the marketing lecture, those in operations went to the operations lecture, and those in finance went to the finance lecture. Learning more information about their respective role allows campers to better understand their responsibilities. In the evening, our campers continue working on their business plan and begin thinking about their final presentation.

Day 2 of Minnesota Business Venture was Career Day! As always, many thanks to our sponsor of the day, The Arby's Foundation & Arby's Restaurant Group. Our first event of the day was Camp Jam, a competition where student companies compete against each other by performing team-based tasks to earn points. These tasks range from designing a company poster and creating a company slogan to solving anagrams and riddles! Camp Jam is a great way to connect with teammates and strengthen communication skills. Next, we had a keynote by Chris Damsgard from General Mills about the process involved in developing a brand. He states that to create the most effective brand, people should develop an archetype of their brand- whether this archetype is playful, serious, modern, traditional, or something else, it has to appeal and relate to the brand's ideal consumers. In the evening, campers attended both a career expo and breakout sessions. At the career expo, campers listened to short discussions from organizations in the vehicle world, the emergency services world, the sanitation world, and others. At the breakout sessions, experienced professionals gave lectures on important life skills like resumes, understanding workplace culture, interviewing, and technology. During worktime, students continued to follow the business plan in preparation to present their final product.

Former Minnesota Business Venture camper, now volunteer, Santiago J. Escobar, M.A., CSM, CSPO continues shines. Congratulations to Santiago for being awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award by St. Mary's University! Santiago has a long history of volunteerism with BestPrep dating back to 2013 when he joined us Birdies for BestPrep, since then he’s volunteered multiple times in our mentoring programs eMentors and Cloud Coach. Santiago has also served as faculty in residence at Minnesota Business Venture and come to camp as a business plan judge. Santiago – congratulations and thank you for making a difference in students’ lives!

Yesterday marked the start of Week 2 of Minnesota Business Venture! The theme was "Dare to Dream." As always, a huge thank you to our sponsor for Day 1, 3M. After a warm welcome at registration, campers settled in for their first keynote speech. Our speaker for Day 1 was Sally Phu, who championed the importance of achieving your true potential, self love, and building and maintaining relationships with family, friends, community, and most importantly, yourself. Our campers spent the afternoon all over on a campus-wide scavenger hunt, and in the evening, performed original skits using random items in our event called "Junk Night", an event that serves to hone their public speaking skills! On Day 1, campers met their peers, built connections, and prepared to work hard during this week!

Following the camper's company meetings, we conducted a second round of breakout sessions. These breakout sessions were all about financial literacy. The students heard "Investing" from Matt Adey CIMA® from Morgan Stanley, "Paying for College" from Neil Leibundguth from the University of St. Thomas, "Credit" from Ann Erickson from Froehling Anderson, "Budgeting" from Tina Jones from Blaze Credit Union, "Identify Theft" from Jody Slais from Wings Financial Group, and last but not least, they played the "Fab Life Game" with Tara Pribnow from ECMC.

Today, at camp, is Financial Freedom Day! After the morning welcome, our keynote speaker, Roya Moltaji,CFP®, ChFC®, CASL®, CAP®ADPA™, from Roya LLC, addressed “Money Values." She talked about efficient ways to save money and how money decisions impact your thoughts, feelings, relationships, and future. A big thanks to our sponsor for today, Piper Sandler! After the keynote, we had our first five breakout sessions of today on philanthropy that the students signed up for. We heard from Alyssa Banks from General Mills, Stacey Nelson Kumar from Comcast, Kelsey Midthun from Thrivent, Sarah Swenson from Donaldson Company, and Tariq Malik from Securian Financial. A big thank you to all of them. Our campers learned a lot, and you guys are greatly appreciated!

Day 3 at Minnesota Business Venture is Entrepreneur Day! We are very grateful for our sponsor today, Cargill. Camp started today with the campers' mock interviews. This gave the campers a chance to practice and grow new interviewing skills and resume building. Many of the campers were successful and got great feedback from our volunteer interviewers. Again, a big thank you to our wonderful interviewers; you guys have been more than helpful. Today our keynote speaker is Beamlak Tesfahun Petros, a rising junior at the University of St. Thomas—Opus College of Business. Beamlak enlightened our campers about some of the issues happening in Ethiopia and how her companies have and will continue to help women and families there. Our campers were very curious and had many questions; they enjoyed chatting with her afterwards and learning more. After the keynote, campers headed to their own break-out sessions. These sessions included Marketing 101 by Oie Dobier from Bloomdocking, Finance 101 by Preenon Huq from Metro Transit, and last but not least, Operations 101 by Adam Revoir from the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Thank you so much to all of our speakers. These sessions helped the campers learn more about the roles they'll be playing in their companies this week and maybe even think about a new passion they discovered. this week at camp. 

Today at Minnesota Business Venture, the theme was Career Day! Thank you to our sponsor of the day, Arby's. Michael Happe, CEO of Winnebago Industries, who kicked off Career Day with a keynote titled “Developing Your Brand." Michael highlighted the importance of having both strategy and execution in your brand while creating a positive culture to develop it. Before the keynote, the students participated in their first camp jam. During camp jam students work together to solve riddles, come up with company chants and slogans, create posters and untangle a human pretzel. Camp jam is a great way to interact with fellow campers, CEOs, and RBLs and integrate teamwork and creativity. Today the campers had their first breakout sessions and also attended a career expo. The breakout sessions included Resumes with Heather Rosales of RBC Wealth Management, Understanding Workplace Culture with Ariel Cua Her of Versique Search & Consulting, Interviewing with Mitchell LeGrand of H2O for Life, and Technology and Today's Workplace with Anne Finch from SCA Surgery. In the Career Expo, the students were able to listen to professionals in the fields of the financial industry, environmental industry, emergency services industry, and credit unions.