April 22, 2010
Media Advisory -- Young Entrepreneurs at Work
Local grade school children will show off their newly acquired entrepreneurship skills during the Carbondale Farmer’s Market on Saturday, April 24. They’ll demonstrate what they’ve learned through a program from Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Southern Illinois Entrepreneurship Center.
Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to visit the farmer’s market on the Westtown Mall parking lot between 8 a.m. and noon. The 48 fourth and fifth graders from Betsy Brown’s academically talented program at Lewis School will sell products they have researched, developed and made themselves.
This is the culmination of a semester-long, interactive learning project from the SIUC Office of Economic and Regional Development. The young students have visited and listened to successful entrepreneurs from around the region, learned about investing in the stock market and discussed the importance of maintaining healthy personal finances. They even study how businesses operate in different cultures.
For this project the children each created a business concept, developed a product, designed a company logo for T-shirts and business cards and actually produced the crafts and other products they’ll be selling Saturday.
For more information, contact Robyn Laur Russell, director of the SIUC Southern Illinois Entrepreneurship Center, at 618/453-3805 or by e-mail at rrussell@biz.siu.edu.