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High school juniors from throughout Colorado will get a taste of college life and see what it's like to compete in the business world during a weeklong CU-Boulder program on campus June 20-26.
The 30 high school students will be participating in the Business Leadership Program, sponsored by the University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business Diversity Office. The students are prospective first-generation college students, economically disadvantaged or members of underrepresented groups at CU-Boulder.
During the week they are introduced to life as a business student at CU-Boulder by attending classes, learning about business etiquette, creating an advertising campaign and meeting current business students and peers from other high schools. They also get to network with representatives from major corporations who are sponsoring the program.
"The students are exposed to not just the campus, but to the business school in particular," said Aswad Allen, director of diversity affairs at the Leeds School. "We aren't just exposing them to college, we are taking the opportunity to let them experience it first hand, letting them feel the pressures that students experience while in college."
Some of those pressures will surface during the advertising campaign competition when students will split into teams to solve separate marketing problems presented by the participating corporations. The teams, which are assisted by counselors who are veterans of the Business Leadership Program, will make their presentations at the end of the week and one team will be named the winner.
Each member of the winning team will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship to the Leeds School.
Each participating company also will receive a copy of the video presentation created by students during the competition. "Â鶹ÊÓƵ four years ago State Farm used a concept developed by the students in some of their material," Allen said.
Students participating in the weeklong program have demonstrated leadership potential, possess an interest in business-related fields, maintain excellent academic standards and have completed their junior year in high school.
"Our overall goal is to have these kids come here for college," Allen said. He added that last year every student who attended the program applied to CU-Boulder and the Leeds School. "Hopefully we will have that kind of success again this year."
Key Equipment Finance is the primary sponsor of this year's weeklong event, donating $25,000 to the program. Other corporate sponsors include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Target.
For more information call (303) 735-5117 or visit the Web site at .