If you dream of your own business, you¡¯re already thinking like an entrepreneur.
What you need is experience in what it takes to create, run and grow your own business. That¡¯s what Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s experiential minor in entrepreneurial studies will do for you.
What makes this minor experiential is the hands-on part of the curriculum. You¡¯ll have two options:
? complete an internship at an entrepreneurial firm or an organization in its early, formative stage, or
? create an in-depth business plan, supervised by the director of Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s EDGE Center.
What is the EDGE Center? EDGE stands for Entrepreneurial Development through Guided Experiences. The center is a hub of entrepreneurial activity centrally located in the Olin Center, where students of all majors (many with the entrepreneurial studies minor) work on assets needed by local organizations to better communicate, manage or market their businesses or not-for-profit.
Many Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø alumni say their EDGE Center experiences¡ªand the portfolios they created¡ªstood out on applications and set them on their distinctive career paths. Students with minors in entrepreneurial studies receive a formal certificate of their competence in entrepreneurship.
Creative thinking
Combine ideas to create something new. Use imaginative ways of solving problems.
Collaborative leadership
Make decisions and act for the good of the community as a group.
Intercultural competence
Understand real and imaginary similarities and differences. Use more than one perspective to view issues.
Critical thinking and information literacy
Judge and construct arguments, raise questions and define problems. Make a conclusion based on evidence.
Communication competence
Read and listen carefully. Express ideas (writing or speaking) suited to the audience.
? Supervised by EDGE Center staff, students in the EDGE Center complete a wide range of projects, including web development, design and photography, video editing, strategic marketing plans, social media management and marketing, event planning, media relations and more.
? EDGE Center staff also provide students expert help in developing their personal business plans. Many students submit their business plans to the annual $10,000 Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Business Plan Competition, in which the five best plans are chosen by a panel of business professionals to compete for monetary awards.
? The Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Creative Enterprise Fund (ACEF) funds the annual business plan competition and also provides grants to students interested in entrepreneurial ventures such as business and social entrepreneurship, education, sustainable community programming, and more. Students who can link music education or the arts to their proposal are especially encouraged to apply.
? Advertising Developers (ADs) and the Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Web Guild are two student groups of special interest for entrepreneurial studies minors.
Laura Keenan '22 is a marketing and creative strategist for Republic Companies in the Quad Cities.
Alexa Pedersen ¡¯20 is a lead designer at Glass Nebula in Chicago.
Liem Gearen ¡¯19 is a senior software engineer with John Deere in the Quad Cities.
Alyssa Mish ¡¯19 is a senior registration manager with Creative Group, Inc.
Kristoffer Kizer '18 is a private syndicate investor with VU Venture Partners, a venture associate with Iron Key Capital, a private investor with Rebel One and an independent business strategy and innovation consultant with OpenExO.
Andrew Kladiva ¡¯18 is a territory aftermarket business manager at John Deere in Manchester, N.H.
“The EDGE Center and CORE were the biggest driving factors that convinced me to come to Augie.”Read More
“I got involved in the right clubs and organizations (like the EDGE Center), and they have helped me learn and experience so much more than I had ever expected.”Read More
“My peak experience was participating in the National Student Advertising Competition with the Advertising Developers (ADs) and serving as a co-president.”Read More
Every year, students in Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø's EDGE Center lay groundwork for the success of the World Family Therapy Congress, held somewhere in the world.
Students won $9,000 in total prize money in Å·ÖÞ±ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø's 2022 Business Plan Competition.
Two of the students who organized the first Sloughfest on-campus music festival have started their own music artist management/consulting company.
