April was a busy thirty day period at Ivy Tech Community College’s Bloomington campus as college students organized for finals and several well prepared for graduation. We also experienced numerous critical functions at the college that show our assist for our students and the group, that were being impacted by the pandemic.
The Ivy Tech Gayle & Bill Cook dinner Center for Entrepreneurship hosted its once-a-year Duke It Out Business Pitch Opposition, manufactured achievable with fiscal support from our essential sponsor, Duke Energy. Four Ivy Tech learners took property prize funding totaling $4,000 for their thoughts to stop homelessness, launch a meals truck enterprise, and two others to resolve difficulties in the delivery business and financial help system for pupils. These are essential expertise for college students to learn to develop an thought, get ready an efficient pitch presentation and then current to a panel of judges. The students did an incredible work and will influence our economy in the potential.
The Prepare dinner Middle also hosted its annual Cook dinner Institute for Entrepreneurship luncheon where by Monthly bill Oliver offered a enjoyment and educational presentation on the tale of the begin of Oliver Winery, its expansion and new partnership with a non-public equity company aiding them rise to a person of the biggest wineries in the U.S. This is an remarkable accomplishment thanks to the tough operate and leadership of the Oliver relatives and the personnel who have manufactured the winery a strike for so quite a few years. We are very pleased of their achievement and the wines they create, in addition to the effect on tourism and the financial state of the region.
We also experienced our very first pitch competitors for Ivy Tech’s new Rise Applied Entrepreneurship study course where by nine pupils pitched business thoughts for food truck company, handmade goods, imaginative illustrations, athletics betting applications, soccer education, RV/boat storage, among the other strategies. Our college students have been tricky at work all year planning for this day and figured out presentation skills, as perfectly as arranging their thoughts for a effective pitch celebration. We expect most of the pupils to just take their thoughts to the marketplace creating their possess work to gain the region. What a great way to empower their economic futures by means of entrepreneurial education and learning and assistance from a wide variety of business enterprise house owners, who guided them during the course as very well as our Cook Middle and Smaller Business enterprise Growth Middle team users.
As you can see, we have been placing the “community” in community college or university and value the aid of the numerous who volunteered to support our pupils and host significant functions for the 1st time since the pandemic began. It was specifically awesome to see so a lot of longtime pals and supporters jointly in a single place, and regain some perception of normalcy which has been lacking for a few of years.
We now concentrate on higher education graduates and the influence they will make on the employers who desperately have to have them. Best of luck to all the graduates who place in the tough do the job and devotion to get their degrees and certifications.
Steve Bryant is executive director of the Gayle & Invoice Cook Center for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech Community University, Bloomington campus, and the South Central Indiana Small Enterprise Progress Middle.