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AVI Employees Teach Ohio Business Week Students
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Two employees with AVI Food Systems, Warren, spent Monday evening talking to high school students participating in the Ohio Business Week summer camp at Youngstown State University about the elements of business costs .
“We’re trying to tell them about costs related to profit,” said Ronald Fularz, an accounts payable specialist with AVI. “We wanted them to get an idea of the different types of costs.”
Fularz spoke to the 45 students about variable, semi-variable and fixed costs then quizzed the group about which of the three categories some everyday costs would fall under. “We wanted to keep it simple, keep them interested and make sure they learn the basics,” he said.
Mike Weymer, human resources with AVI, said AVI chose to speak to at the business week because community involvement is one of the core values of the company, and he hopes that by speaking to the students they will help them as they grow up. “Helping these kids along, helping them understand personal finances and how finances apply to business is a win-win for us,” he said.
“We wanted to get the kids involved, get them interested in business; not only business on a big scale, but also on a small scale and how costs affect their personal lives,” Weymer said. Established in 1988, the Ohio Business Week Foundation is a statewide nonprofit organization that provides high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors with the opportunity to gain firsthand experience in business and entrepreneurship.
Participants are assigned to a “company” with 10-12 other students and a loaned executive called a company adviser. The students develop an idea for a new business venture; complete business, financial and marketing plans; construct a trade show display; develop an advertisement or web page; and create a TV or radio commercial.
At the end of the week, the companies compete in the Emerging Entrepreneur Project Competition. To prepare students for the competition, the foundation relies on business leaders from across the state of Ohio to provide mentoring and expertise to the student teams.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.