Written on May 22, 2009 by admin
California
Wow! We had an amazing week traveling all over the state of California. From 500 high school students in Porterville to an amazing group of educators in San Bernardino to an auditorium full of middle school students in Sonora, the Extreme Entrepreneurship Team had an awesome time inspiring students and their teachers to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
Our first event on May 6, 2009, was sponsored by Porterville College. Around 500 high school and college students came together to learn about how they could start businesses at a young age and learn about entrepreneurship at Porterville College. AJ Yager, (www.ajyager.com/blog) a local young entrepreneur that started dreaming big at the age of 10 shared about his experiences as one of the founders of Long Beach magazine and read an excerpt from his upcoming book. Also 30 exhibitors, including representatives of Porterville College and a group of young entrepreneurs from a hip hop clothing store, helped students see how they could start pursuing their dreams today!
Then our team headed south to San Bernardino: Michael Simmons, co-founder of the tour, Arel Moodie, speaker with Arel Moodie International (www.arelmoodie.com), and Elizabeth Saunders, women in business speaker with Real Life E (www.RealLifeE.com) fit themselves, their luggage, and all of the tour material in a Ford Focus. A bit of a squeeze but everyone and everything made it!
In San Bernardino, the awesome threesome put on a Teacher Workshop for local educators in collaboration with the Inland Empire SBDC. During this event, we focused on how our educational experiences, including classes, mentors, and competitions, had lead to our success as young entrepreneurs. Michael also shared about different resources that teachers could use to empower students to succeed, including online tools like Facebook ads and Google analytics.
Arel jetted across to NYC for another event, but Michael and Elizabeth carried on in California with an event for around 350 middle schoolers in Sonora. Columbia College sponsored this awesome program that encouraged 7th and 8th graders to start thinking about how they could create opportunities for themselves and others in the area. During the event, we emphasized the importance of going to college and considering community college as an affordable option. We also shared about the dual enrollment program where students can start earning high school and college credit at the age of 14. These kids had amazing energy and awesome ideas!! We can’t wait to see all they will teach us in the coming years.
All in all, it was a fantastic week—three cities, three age groups, and three opportunities to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs!







