Wednesday, June 23, 2004

TO: Wilmington Area Media

DATE: June 22, 2004

FROM: Elizabeth King Humphrey

University Relations, UNCW

RE: Media Opportunity

Youth Entrepreneur’s Junior Business Exhibit and Awards Ceremony summer program at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 24 in Cameron Hall, Room 101

LaShayna Farrow is 15 and has a soft spot for kids. She already knows she wants to be a child psychologist. One of her entrepreneur classmates wants to be a computer technician, another wants to go into the medical field, while others want to explore sports. Twenty-eight students will be presenting their visions and aspirations to their parents and community members at the Young Entrepreneur’s Junior Business Exhibit and Awards Ceremony at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. This is the final event in a two-week program for young entrepreneurs from 12 to 16 years of age who have been participating in a simulated marketplace to learn how to run a business.

You are invited to attend the ceremony at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 24 in Cameron Hall, Room 101.

The students are being taught how to start and manage a business from UNCW professionals and students in a fun environment. This event is in collaboration by the Cameron School of Business and the Upperman African American Cultural Center Heritage School with sponsorship from the Partners for Economic Inclusion (PEI).

Studies have found that students who participated in an entrepreneurship program had increased self-esteem, higher achievement motivation, greater personal control and wre more innovative than a similar group that had other activities such as art and music. Students who participated in the training program also improved their grades in language arts, science, social studies and reading compared to the previous year.

Howard Rasheed, associate professor of marketing and management, will be on hand to discuss the program with the media. Louis Rogers, Linda Upperman-Smith and Peter Grear, representing PEI, are expected to attend the ceremony. Tammi Hamilton, academic advisor, Cameron School of Business, was the facilitator of the program. Crystal Greene, Cameron School of Business, organized the conference. Khalil Cliette, a UNCW marketing student and business partner in Earthworm, a Wilmington-based t-shirt company that promotes positive and uplifting messages to youth, participated in the classroom exercises.