Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/373915
12 September/October 2014 BizEd headlines STU DE NTS: FUSE /TH I N KSTOCK; B USI N ESS: VECTOR I KART/TH I N KSTOCK Senior Week IT'S BECOMING more common for business schools to design programs aimed at high school seniors who are also part of underrepresented minority groups. This summer, two schools launched or revamped programs in an effort to increase the diversity of their incoming freshmen. ■ Sixty high school seniors participated in a new program at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in Bloomington. MEET Kelley—an acronym for "Meet-Educate-Expe- rience-Transition to Kelley"—was designed for high-performing high school seniors who are African American, Latino or Hispanic, Native American, or Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. MEET Kelley replaces the Junior Executive Institute, which was created to increase diversity in the school's undergraduate student body. Participating students had to be rising seniors and have GPAs of 3.4 or better. During the week on campus, students worked in teams to plan a music benefit concert; attended classes on accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, and marketing; and met with campus partners such as La Casa/The Latino Cultural Center, IU Admis- sions, the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, and the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. ■ The Culverhouse College of Commerce at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa is using its Culverhouse Majors Awareness Program (CMAP) to recruit rising high school seniors enrolled in magnet and accelerated programs. The residential summer institute targets exceptional students who are typi- cally underrepresented at the school, including those from different cultures and those with disabilities. In June, 30 students and 25 faculty and business professionals attended the inaugural weeklong camp. Participants used interactive formats to explore pri- mary business disciplines—accounting, finance, eco- nomics, management, marketing, and management science and information systems—as well as special- izations such as sales and entrepreneurship. Budding Entrepreneurs THE ENTREPRENEURIAL spirit is alive and well among recent college graduates, according to a new survey by CT Corporation, a provider of business formation and legal compliance services. But even individuals who want to start their own businesses sometimes lack the skills, according to the survey of 500 recent graduates. Sixty-one percent of CT's survey respondents want to start their own businesses, but only 45 percent believe the dream is feasible. Furthermore, 67 percent don't fully understand critical tasks such as preparing a business plan, incorporating a business, and fulfill- ing state requirements. Respondents are also uncertain about other specific tasks related to launching a busi- ness: 45 percent don't think they can come up with an original business name, 54 percent don't think they can obtain a domain name, and 59 percent aren't sure how to market their businesses. Respondents are most uncertain about launching a new enterprise within three to five years after gradua- tion; just 21 percent feel that starting their own busi- nesses during that time frame would make them more secure than getting jobs with existing companies. How- ever, 51 percent believe that, ten to 20 years after grad- uation, they'd feel more secure starting their own busi- nesses rather than working with existing companies.