Over the past several years, Albertus Magnus College and Junior Achievement of Southwest New England have forged a strong relationship which has led to our faculty, staff, students, and alumni to work with many elementary and high school students, providing enrichment in the areas of financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. At the end of May, the Albertus community participated in the second annual Albertus Magnus College / Junior Achievement “Be Entrepreneurial Challenge” in which 40 high school students from three schools came to campus and participated in workshops led by members of the faculty and staff of the college.
On May 21st, Bill Aniskovich, Howard Fero, James Patsalides, Michael McGivern, Camille Murphy, and Siobhan Lidington facilitated sessions for students from Vinal Tech High School (Middletown), Riverside Educational Academy (New Haven), and Highville Charter School (New Haven) in which the students worked to create a new product or service by exploring questions such as: what is my business, what is my product, and who is my customer. The sessions helped students identify a problem or void in the market, think creatively about how to solve it, identify their customer, fine tune their ideas, and begin the process of creating a business plan (complete with financials!).
In teams of 3 or 4, the students worked throughout the day on their plan and were mentored by members of the faculty and staff. At the conclusion of the day the student teams presented their ideas to their mentors and their presentations were scored. The top 4 teams (from the 10 who participated) were invited back to Campus on May 29th for our version of a Shark Tank competition, and the finalists presented to a panel of Fearless Falcons.
The finalists did an amazing job, coming to campus with full presentations detailing their products and services and brought along props as well! In the end, the winner of the Challenge was Team Youth Ride. The team followed their assumption and experience that teens and preteens don’t have many transportation options which their parents deem appropriate, so they envisioned and presented their plan to create a bus service which would transport only children. A service such as this, according to the team, would make parents more comfortable allowing their children travel independently.
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Sean O’Connell, as well as Mike Piscitelli, Interim Economic Development Administrator from the City of New Haven, and Brian Levine, SVP Commercial Banking and Senior Relationship Manager from Bank of America, offered great advice to the team which, if they decide to move forward, will help them to develop this valuable service.
In addition to the Entrepreneurial Challenge, Albertus Magnus College also participates in a JA in a Day program each year. For this event we bring students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the College to the Davis Street Magnet School in New Haven where our Albertus family uses the Junior Achievement curriculum (along with their experience) to teach financial literacy and entrepreneurship to the different grades.