STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAW) – Campers are finishing up their entrepreneurship camp at UW-Stevens Point.
In the four days they’ve been on campus, they’ve developed their own companies with random groups. Campers say a big takeaway for them was learning the importance of networking.
“I used to not be, really able to talk to people and now I can just go up to people and I start a conversation and it’s much easier,” camper and incoming freshman Adelyn Thompson said.
Thompson says throughout the past four days, they have all learned the importance of making connections.
“I tell them, ‘You know what, who you’re rooming with might be your college roommate. Who you’re talking to in your boardroom may end up being a colleague and a business that you didn’t even know existed,’” Wisconsin Business World Senior Director Michelle Grajkowski said.
Thompson has made a connection with incoming sophomore Kaleigh Beuthien, and they’ve come up with a pretty unique company.
“It introduces you to a new blood type, and now you can use both blood types when inserting into your body,” Beuthien said. “Just like a vaccine would insert a little bit of the flu.”
They say their company would allow people to change or blend blood types by adding or subtracting protein.
The campers say they learned what their profits would be and how to find their target audience. At the camp’s etiquette dinner Tuesday night, they also got to network with local businesses.
Grajkowski says she hopes this experience leaves students inspired.
“Our key message is business is a force for good and we’re a nonprofit,” she said. “We rely on our community to do what we do, and we want the students to actually see that in themselves as well.“
The camp is free and open to incoming freshmen through outgoing seniors. It is put on by the WMC Foundation and UW Stevens Point’s Sentry School of Business and Economics.
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