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"Mahoning Valley Enterprises Give Ohio Business Week $33,800"
"YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Corporate sponsors in the Mahoning Valley have given $33,800 in support of this year's Ohio Business Week at Youngstown State University, its executive director, Nancy Whetstone, said today.Among the major donors are National City Bank Northeast, Butler Wick & Co., First Place Bank Community Foundation, General Motors Lordstown Assembly Complex, FirstEnergy, Hill, Barth & King LLC, and YSU's Williamson College of Business Administration. Each summer, Ohio Business Week holds two week-long camps on the basics of U.S. capitalism for high-school students, one at YSU, the other at the University of Findlay. The YSU session runs from Sunday, July 25 through Saturday, July 31. Some 300 students from high schools throughout the state attend the two sessions.Students are divided into companies of 10 members for the Emerging Entrepreneur Project. Over four days they come up with products or services, write business plans that encompass how they will finance, distribute, market and advertise their products or services. Along the way they learn something about accounting, finance, marketing and how the free enterprise system is supposed to work.On Friday, they offer 10-minute presentations of their plans, including the advertising spots and Web sites they design, to a panel of judges.Throughout the week, businessmen and women offer motivational speeches and guidance on how to finance, manufacture and advertise products and services. During the week, the participants also learn how to run a computer-model business where they must operate within the boundaries of JA Titan, funded and developed by Best Buy Children's Foundation. Mahoning Valley Junior Achievement and Ohio Business Week created a partnership last summer in offering JA Titan at YSU.National City Bank Northeast gave Ohio Business Week $8,000 for this summer's programs while National City Central Ohio gave $5,000. Since the program began in 1988, National City has contributed more than $78,000."Investing in Ohio's youth strengthens communities in the Mahoning Valley," said National City's Youngstown area president, Tom Hollern. "Ohio Business Week draws students of culturally diverse backgrounds from across the state. It helps them refine their financial literacy skills."First Place contributed $6,000. "Ohio Business Week helps young people apply classroom theories to everyday business practices," said David Jenkins, executive director of the Warren-based financial services company's community foundation. "It also affords them the opportunity to add impressive clips to their college portfolios."FirstEnergy donated $5,000 again this year. "Ohio Business Week has done an effective job teaching young people how to start their own businesses," said Karen Fox, coordinator of the utility's customer and community services.Butler Wick gave $2,500, bringing its level of support to $23,500 since it began that support in 1996. Thomas Cavalier, Butler Wick's president and chief executive officer, said he sees the worth of the program as a source "the business community can draw future business leaders from."Hill Barth & King, a public accounting firm, again gave $2,500, bring its total to $10,000 since 2001. The program "is an opportunity for students to explore the business world and expand their horizons in a fun way," said Jim Rosa, partner and head of its tax department.GM Lordstown contributed $4,800, raising its level of support to $23,650 since 1998. "Our company has invested in Ohio Business Week because it allows students to interact with professionals and see how goods are made, distributed and sold," said Maureen Midgley, manager of the Lordstown Complex. The Ohio Business Week Foundation, based in Columbus, is a statewide non-profit organization founded in 1988 to provide ninth, 10th and 11th graders the opportunity to learn how business works. Professionals from companies act as advisers in helping the students set up and run their companies and make their presentations.Visit Ohio Business Week at www.ohiobusinessweek.org "