High school juniors from throughout Colorado will sharpen their business skills and get a taste of college life during a weeklong University of Colorado at Boulder program on campus June 19-25.
The 30 students will take part in the Business Leadership Program, sponsored by CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business Diversity Office. Participating students are prospective first-generation college students whose parents did not attend college, students who are economically disadvantaged or students who are members of underrepresented groups at CU-Boulder.
"During the week, these students will get to see and experience a slice of college life," said Aswad Allen, director of diversity affairs at the Leeds School. "We aren't just exposing them to college, we are letting them experience it first hand, letting them feel the pressures that students experience while in college."
A main component of the program is the student team competition. Early in the week, students will break into five teams. Each team will be responsible for creating an image campaign for one of the program's five corporate sponsors. The campaign will include a verbal presentation, a student-produced television commercial and a print advertisement.
At the week's end, teams will make presentations to representatives from the sponsoring corporations, as well as their parents and peers. Each member of the winning team will receive a $1,000 scholarship to the Leeds School of Business.
While the competition is a large part of the program, students also will get an introduction to life as a business student at CU-Boulder by attending classes, learning about business etiquette and meeting current business students and peers from other high schools.
"The most important thing I took from the program was the connection I made with other students and faculty here at CU," said Jessica Thomas, a CU-Boulder senior majoring in dance with a minor in business, who participated in the program in June 2002.
This year will be the third time she has volunteered as a student counselor. "The program really helped me get a head start and develop a network of friends and professors who I have counted on since I have been a student here, " Thomas said.
She now has her own group of students who she counseled in the program, and who look to her for advice. Thomas said it is rewarding to help other students get acquainted with college and help them realize they have a support base they can depend on as freshman, just as she did.
Key Equipment Finance, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Target and KPMG are the corporate sponsors of the weeklong program. Key Equipment Finance has been a major sponsor, contributing $25,000 to the program each of the past three years.
For more information call (303) 735-5117 or visit the Web site at .