CTB’s
Summer Camp Guide for Creative Kids
Entrepreneurship Camps for Teens Learn the principles of entrepreneurship and how to start your own company through this six-day camp. In the mornings, students will learn how to think, plan, and act like entrepreneurs as well as how to write a business plan and prepare a presentation describing their plan. In the afternoons, young business people will study creative problem solving, team building through robotics, and innovation through a curriculum developed by the Brainstorm Institute. Trophies will be awarded for the top business plans following a competition held on the last day of camp. For ages 13 – 17. The camp runs 8:30 AM - 3:00 PM and costs $399 per child, per week. The first two camps are held at the Museum of Science & Industry, 4801 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa. The 7/23 camp will be held at Tampa Day School 12606 Henderson Road, Tampa. Contact Deb Campbell at Campbell@forwardthinkinginitiatives.com or call (813)760-7860. Read more:http://www.creativetampabay.com/archives/193
Forward
Thinking Initiatives' Entrepreneurship Camp for Teens @ MOSI
http://store.campfun.org/fothincafort.html
EveryDayMom
By Elizabeth A. Leib
Mar. 12, 2007
“One
Woman’s Quest to Foster Critical Thinking, Leadership and Entreprenuership
in Tampa Bay’s Youth”
By Elizabeth A. Leib
Marco Padilla-Rodriquez hasn’t quit his day job just yet. But he has big dreams. As founder of earthKIND humanKIND he uses all his free time to pursue his passion for the environment. Padilla-Rodriquez loves to talk about the importance of the relationship between people and the planet, giving presentations to community groups, talking with anyone who will listen about his ideas on sustainability and corporate social responsibility and attending to administrative details like answering emails.
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For
the last several years, Padilla-Rodriquez, a sophomore student at Northside
Christian School, frequently volunteered his time to organizations that
focused on environmental protection and restoration, an interest he
says he shares with his mom. When she told him about a camp for teens
where participants learn the principles of entrepreneurship and how
to form a company, he jumped at the chance to participate. A year later
Padilla-Rodriquez says about the 2006 Entrepreneurship Camp for Teens
at MOSI, “it was more about for-profit businesses, not non-profit. But
it was still very helpful. I enjoyed the speakers and the different
and important subjects that they covered. Entrepreneurship Camp helped
me get more serious about creating Earthkind and it also helped
me developed the website for Earthkind (www.earthKINDhumanKIND.org).”
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I
had the chance to hear Padilla-Rodriquez talk about his organization
alongside other young business owners last week during the Tampa Bay
kick off of Entrepreneurship Week USA. Speaking that evening to a group
of teachers and high school students was Max Wolford, founder of Good
Stuff Video Productions (www.goodstuffvideoproductions.com),
Chon T. Nguyen, President of Digital Aspire, LLC (www.digital aspire.com),
Rebecca Heimstead, coordinator of Mayor Iorio’s Youth Corp for the City
and Brian Collins, founder of the Brainstorm Institute. The presentation
took place at the Bill Poe Junior Achievement Center and was sponsored
by Forward Thinking Initiatives and Junior Achievement.
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The
Kauffman Foundation launched EntrepreneurshipWeek USA (www.entrepreneurshipweekusa.com)
along with a group of sponsors including the New York Times and Inc.
magazine with the purpose of igniting the nation’s consciousness around
the importance of being entrepreneurial. Traditionally “entrepreneurship”
refers to starting a new business. But in today’s environment entrepreneurship
permeates into very diverse areas of society, and entrepreneurial thinking
people emerge through all sorts of routes and backgrounds. Entrepreneurial
thinking is applied to non-business problems, and it is as relevant
to public and volunteer organizations as it is to large corporations
and small businesses. EntrepreneurshipWeek USA is designed to help kids
actually see themselves as entrepreneurial thinkers – using creativity
and innovation to start their adult lives.
Thanks
to the efforts of Deb Campbell, President of Forward Thinking Initiatives,
Tampa Bay youth are being given a chance to participate in the nationwide
interest in fostering youth entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and
leadership. Founded in 2003 with seed money from the Florida High Tech
and Verizon, Forward Thinking Initiatives (FTI) is dedicated to developing
a more competitive emerging workforce by providing programs with a focus
on youth entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and leadership. I first
met Campbell when we crossed paths as board members for Creative Tampa
Bay and later as fellow Hillel moms. Campbell, an artist and art teacher
at the Hillel Day School of Tampa, combines her extensive background
in economic development and education, where she has successfully introduced
workforce trends into a curriculum that stresses financial literacy
and critical thinking. FTI strives to create linkages among educators,
human resource professionals, parents, students and the business community.
If she sounds amazing on paper, Campbell is even moreso in person. She is a woman who presents so well you imagine her flowing seamlessly between the high powered business environments of her days with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (where she taught companies how to do international trade) and the equally intense adolescents she relates to in her Hillel art classes. The art of her students “The DaVinci Project” is on display in MOSI’s lobby.
Campbell ’s no-nonsense vision is compelling. When she talks about the plans in progress with Hillel to create a 20-week Global Business program for the students culminating in a trip to Israel to meet their teen trading partners, it’s difficult not to get dizzy with the breadth of her vision. She’s got a plan for making it happen, and is out in full force working to develop partnerships and funding to support it all. There seems nothing she’s not capable of accomplishing.
This summer area youth may register for one of two week-long sessions of the Forward Thinking Initiatives Entrepreneurship Camp for Teens taking place at MOSI June 25 or July 9.
How to register:
Send a check along with the young entrepreneur's name, address, student
and parent email addresses, phone number, age, school, and grade to:
Forward Thinking Initiatives at MOSI
10550 Greencrest Drive
Tampa, Florida 33626
Attn: Debra Campbell
Fee: $399
Payable to: Forward Thinking Initiatives at MOSI
For information: Call (813) 760-7860 or email: Campbell@forwardthinkinginitiatives.com
Limited need-based scholarships are available.
CreativeTampaBay articlesWith the wide variety of this year’s and future events, CTB strives to do “civic acupuncture” by interjecting ideas and energy into the life force of the community. CTB also is proud of board members who are following their own creative endeavors. Deb Campbell, under the Forward Thinking Initiatives she has pioneered at the Museum of Science and Industry, is putting on the first Youth Entrepreneurship Camp at MOSI for students from seventh grade through high school. Thanks to the generous support of MOSI and the Florida High Tech Corridor. Read more:http://www.creativetampabay.com/about-ctb/history/
EntrepreneurshipWeek USA Education-Related Partners
Debra Campbell of Forward Thinking Initiatives in partnership with Junior Achievement of West Central Florida is proud to present an evening with successful Tampa Bay entrepreneurs. On March 1 (2007) from 7:00 - 8:30 PM the young people will hear from outstanding area entrepreneurs at the "Budding Entrepreneurs" event for 5th - 12th grade Students, Parents and Teachers at the Bill Poe Junior Achievement Center in Tampa. http://www.entre-ed.org/E-partners.htm