Vermont Youth Entrepreneurs to Receive Awards
Posted: 06-23-11
On Wednesday, June 29th, at a special awards’ luncheon, planned in their honor, sixteen students will be recognized for their creative and outstanding work in developing full business plans - some may even start-up their innovative enterprises. The event will be held at Champlain College in the Hauke Conference Center. The top business plan winner receives $1,000, second place $750 and third place $500. Teachers, parents, SBA and VtSBDC representatives, Comcast, Champlain College and many other leaders will be present to cheer on these dynamic individuals!
VT REAL’s annual Business Plan Competition, sponsored by Comcast, Champlain College and VT REAL gives students a chance to shine, to explore their “be my own boss” dreams and practice the skills they have honed through their VT REAL experiential learnings/”hands-on” applications while in school. The Contest is a great teaching tool for business, marketing, financial literacy/personal finance, problem solving, discovery, creativity and citizenship topics - 21st Century Skills, plus it’s designed to give students a real life experience within an educational setting. It is a great opportunity for students to showcase their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
"REAL - Rural Entrepreneurship Through Action Learning - is an experiential learning curriculum that develops entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, and guides participants through the process of planning, creating, and operating small businesses of their own design………to develop and advance a continuum of entrepreneurship education throughout Vermont, thereby creating a pipeline of new entrepreneurs and critical thinking employees for the state’s future workforce.”
VT REAL leaders recognize that educating our youth about entrepreneurship is vital to the success of Vermont and its overall economy. “We want to encourage young people to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, to explore the creative process of new venture creation, and to consider self-employment as a career choice, said Laurel Butler, VT REAL Leadership Team Member. Students and teachers alike have praised the competition as a starting point for many successful new student businesses or as having served as a catalyst for making their business idea and/or another idea(s) realities in the future. It is our hope that these skills will lay the foundation to help the students academically, personally, and professionally long after they matriculate from secondary education.
For more information, please contact: Laurel Butler, VT REAL Leadership Team Member at: (802) 922-3692 or lbutlervt@gmail.com.
VT REAL is Co-Sponsored by: Secondary, CTE, and Adult Ed Division, Vermont Department of Education, Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC), Vermont Technical College, Vermont REAL Enterprises, and VT Business Education Corp.