Eden Prairie High School student Danielle Jiang participated in Minnesota Business Ventures (MBV), a week-long summer business camp sponsored by First Western Bank & Trust.
The program was developed and is run by BestPrep, a Minnesota nonprofit dedicated to equipping students with business, career and financial literacy skills through hands-on learning. This year, a total of 360 students from 92 schools participated in person and were selected to receive scholarships to attend one of two MBV sessions at the University of St. Thomas in July.
At MBV, small groups of students, known as “companies,” spent a week developing a fictitious product or service. Students wrote business plans and presented them to a panel of experts in an attempt to gain approval for financing. While the proposals were theoretical, the ideas presented were intended to be a realistic representation of how a company might run a business. Students from each company were mentored by experts from local companies throughout the week.
Students also participated in other activities throughout the week and projects were organised for each day with a thematic approach such as Dare to Dream Day, Financial Freedom Day, Career Day, Empowerment Day etc. Activities included guest keynote speakers, treasure hunt, mock interviews etc.
Get information
Sign up for EPLN’s free email newsletter
Subscribe
comment
We offer our readers several ways to provide feedback. We welcome comments on our social media posts (Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn). We also welcome letters to the editor. Submission guidelines can be found on the Contact Us page. If you believe this article contains an error or would like to get in touch with the author, please contact us.