Hi All,
The Alaska Railroad Corporation and the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce are offering a summer Alaska Business Week program affording high school students the opportunity to discover their leadership potential. This program is eligible for all Alaska high school students finishing grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 as of May, 2011.
The Alaska Business Week program will be held at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus July 31 – August 6, 2011. The Alaska Railroad Corporation is offering free round-trip tickets to qualifying students from Anchorage to Fairbanks and back for the program participants.
Program scholarships are also available for interested students and the application deadline is June 1, 2011. Following is a letter I received and attached are all relevant application materials.  This is an amazing summer opportunity for our current ninth through twelfth graders!
Linda
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The Alaska State Chamber’s Alaska Business Week program hails from the very successful and long-running Washington Business Week program started in Washington over 35 years ago. This ‘discovery-learning’ method gives the students an opportunity to experience college life as well as hands-on experience in running an actual company. The students are teamed up with a senior executives who act as company advisors, and work through a series of 8 quarters of a business strategy. The program culminates with presentations to business leaders who act as the company stockholders where the student companies must defend their business strategies, and then sell the business executives on a product or service they have developed over the course of the week.
The program includes a series of nine presentations by business leaders in subject areas including leadership, ethics, marketing, entrepreneurship and similar subject areas by nine business executives and state leaders. It also provides a number of team-building exercises, and gives students the opportunity to meet peers from all areas of the state.
We had 45 high school students from all over the state participate in last years’ program, and every single student came away with a new-found appreciation of their potential leadership skills, and in many cases, a new direction to take in the future. We have a capacity this year for 100 high school students (finishing 9th grade to 12th grade).
There are a number of ways companies can participate in the Alaska Business Week program:
1. Participate as a judge/stockholder at the conclusion of the program.
2. Participate as a ‘company advisor’ to work with student teams throughout the week
3. Identify potential high school students that may benefit from this program.
4. Consider sponsorship of the program at some level. These funds are used to provide scholarships to students who may not otherwise be able to participate.
I am attaching a number of documents regarding the Alaska Business Week (ABW) program for your information. This program will take place on the UAF campus from July 31 – August 6, and the Alaska Railroad Corporation is providing free round-trip train tickets from Anchorage for the participants. We are also able to offer two college credits for this program through the Northern Leadership Center of the UAF School of Management. The cost for the program is $425 which includes room, board, materials and fee charges for the entire week. Scholarships are available. The documents I have included with this email are also available on the Alaska Chamber website<http://www.alaskachamber.com> under “Alaska Business Week” along with a short video on last years’ program.
Attached, please find:
1. ABW Alaska Railroad Corporation flyer
2. ABW FAQ informational sheet
3. ABW student application form
4. ABW syllabus