BUSINESS: Select students collaborate to learn how to make wise decisions out in the business world.
By Caroline Iglesias, Staff Writer
The 2016 Mayor’s Entrepreneurship Challenge Bootcamp took place at SolarMax Technology here in Riverside, California. The event was put together by Riverside’s very own Mayor Rusty Bailey and The Achievement Academy, facilitators of California Business Ventures.
The event’s purpose is to put today’s young adults in a current work environment and see how successful they are at carrying out the procedures of a business. The boot camp incorporates education on essential aspects of running a business such as marketing, advertising, and product development. Schools from all across Riverside County came to compete for the opportunity to win scholarship money for their future educational endeavors. The bootcamp took place on the sixth, seventh, and eighth of April, 2016.
Poly’s representatives were students Michelle Boulos (10), Jonathan Jenkins (10), Stephanie Pasquel (12), and Desi Wiley (12). Each of these individuals were selected due to their high achievements in school and eager drives for success. Ambitious to learn and be successful, they took three days out of their spring break to attend.
Mayor Bailey and The Advancement Academy had students collaborate in activities such as “run[ning] a fake business and mak[ing] financial decisions for it,” Jenkins expressed. The student’s initial task was to sell solar panels through a simulation game, and the activities that followed had them figuring out issues such as “the capacity of a product we wanted and how much money we put into advertising,” Jenkins explained.
Besides the fact that Poly came out on top, the participating students discussed that they all seem to have grasped a deep understanding of how the industry works through the different tactics they used at the bootcamp. Not to mention, they can use these in their future careers. “Personally, the boot camp was very useful to me for my college endeavors,” Wiley commented. “I hope to pursue business and management in my future education, so it was an amazing opportunity to learn more about what I am getting myself into,” Wiley continued.
“This bootcamp has helped me understand the fundamental principles of business, as well as to understand that business is not as easy and successful as it seems,” Pasquel noted.
As the top team of the 2016 Mayor’s Entrepreneurship Challenge, Poly High School received a first place cash prize of $4,000. The money was donated by corporations such as Bourns Technology and the UCR School of Business. Ramona High School earned a second place cash prize of $1,000 and Hillcrest High School received a third place cash prize of $500, which will each be donated to a charity of their choice.