Entrepreneurs as future leaders

Junior Achievement teaches business goals

By Andrew Gobin

August 4 through August 8, Tulalip students involved in the summer youth program attended the Junior Achievement camp. Each year Junior Achievement (JA) teaches students ways to successfully manage finances. This year, the camp focus was on the importance of setting business goals and entrepreneurship.

The first exercise was in developing an idea for a youth center, then designing it.

“The kids have the freedom of imagination,” said Lee Veal, one of the community educators hired by JA. “They get to design a teen center with what they would like to have. There are no limits, the only stipulations were that their designs had to include bathrooms and a study room.”

In groups of two to three, students designed unique concepts including multi-level facilities with a wide array of amenities including retail space, computer labs, game rooms, recording studios, and quiet areas for relaxation and meditation. All of the plans included a fitness area complete with a lap-pool, spa, and sauna.

With the freedom to plan without limitations students were very creative with their design concepts, paying close attention to details like design scale, layout, doors, and building flow. Drew Hatch went so far as to layout the bathroom fixtures, right down to the urinals.

“I’ve done this with a lot of students for a lot of years, but this is the first time I’ve seen this,” said JA Regional Director, Gary Hauff, about the attention to detail in the layout of the restrooms in Hatch’s design.

The unique designs are extravagant, but not so much that they are unrealistic.

Student Diana Aguilar said about her project, “It’d be cool to see the design built.”

While that would be a dream, the purpose for the exercise was to have students create a concept, then learn how to make that concept a reality.

Hauff said, “This year we are focusing on entrepreneurship. Last year, and the years previous, the camp was focused on investment and personal finance management, which can get boring crunching numbers all day. This year we wanted to do something a little more hands on, and get a little more participation.”

“We learned to work together better, and better planning for projects,” said Aguilar.

The goal of the camp is to show students how to make their ideas into a profitable reality. With creativity and planning, anything is possible. Now that their designs are finished, students will use them as business models to learn about start up costs and business planning. The youth are our future, both for our culture and our economic prosperity. With entrepreneurs as our future leaders our economic successes are sure to continue.

 

Andrew Gobin is a staff reporter with the Tulalip News See-Yaht-Sub, a publication of the Tulalip Tribes Communications Department.
Email: agobin@tulalipnews.com
Phone: (360) 716.4188