SPRING 2007 NEWSLETTER

In This Edition:

BestPrep's 31st Annual Luncheon
Minnesota Business Venture 2007
MBV Alumnus is Finalist in 2006 Minnesota Cup
National Organizations Recognize BestPrep
Ninth “Birdies for BestPrep” a Success!
Technology Integration Workshop - Providing Experiential Education
Students and Mentors Learn from Each Other Through eMentors
Totino Grace Student Places Third in InvestWrite National Essay Contest

BestPrep's 31st Annual Luncheon

On May 11, 2007, BestPrep will hold its 31st Annual Luncheon from 11:30am-1:30 pm at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center. This year, Michael Keller, Chief Branding Officer of Dairy Queen, will be the featured speaker at the event. Keller is responsible for the marketing, brand, concept and product strategies for International Dairy Queen Corporation. He began his career with IDQ in 2001. Prior to that, he worked for Jamba Juice, Inc., Realtor.com, Koo Koo Roo, Nestle Chocolate Co. and Bain & Co.

Keller graduated from Dartmouth College in 1987 with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Psychology. In 1991, he earned a Master’s of Business Administration degree from Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. Keller currently enjoys serving on non-profit boards, training for and competing in triathlons, and following the New York Giants and Yankees.

Each year since BestPrep’s inception, the Annual Luncheon has served to recognize the achievements of its exemplary teachers, volunteers, and students. More than 140,000 students, 600 teachers, and 1,500 volunteers participate in BestPrep’s programs each year.

Outstanding teachers will be awarded with “Teacher of Excellence” awards. Extraordinary volunteers will be awarded “Volunteer of Service” awards. BestPrep honors one exceptional volunteer with the Bunzel Volunteer of the Year award in honor of long-time BestPrep volunteer and supporter, Eric Bunzel. The spring student winners of The Stock Market Game will also be recognized.

Tickets are $30 for business professionals, $20 for educators and $10 for students. For tickets or more information, please contact Angela Laubmeier at alaubmeier@bestprep.org or 763-398-0090 x 230.

Minnesota Business Venture 2007
What are your plans this summer?

Minnesota Business Venture 2007 is just around the corner – or at least it feels like it.

This summer, the G.R. Herberger College of Business at St. Cloud State University and the Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship at St. John’s University will once again host Minnesota Business Venture!

This unique week-long summer program is a great opportunity for high school students to link their education with the business world. Working together as a “company” (team of students) and being led by a business professional throughout the week is a distinctive structure that allows youth to learn and share information. Guest speakers arrive daily to share their knowledge and expertise with the students. Session 1 will be held at St. Cloud State University from July 15-20, and Session 2 will be held at St. John’s University from July 29-August 3.

BestPrep is searching for interested high school students!
MBV is now accepting applications from students completing grades 9-12 to attend this summer’s program. Please share this information with students you know whether in your classroom, family, neighborhood, church or through other volunteer efforts. MBV also looks great on college and job applications! Download the 2007 student application now!

BestPrep is searching for volunteers!
MBV is looking for volunteers who want to share their career information with the students at Minnesota Business Venture. In 2006, 180 volunteers shared their time and talent with the future Minnesota work force! There are many different ways to volunteer and many volunteers are needed. Resident Business Leaders (RBLs) are the key to the MBV program. RBLs spend a week at MBV mentoring, guiding and leading the youth through the curriculum. We are also in need of mock interviewers, business plan judges, financial planners and many more guest speakers. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Andrea Hanson. Exact times and dates will be determined.

All MBV questions can be directed to Andrea Hanson, Minnesota Business Venture Director at ahanson@bestprep.org or 763-398-0090 x 226.

A BIG THANK YOU to the MBV alumni who volunteered at the “Birdies for BestPrep” event!

Photographed left to right:
Bottom Row: James Wagner – Eastview High School, Juventino Meza Rodriguez – Arlington High School, Jennie Ehrlich – Mounds View High School, Ka Ly Bliatia – University of Minnesota, Samantha Sites – Chaska High School
Middle Row: Tenzin Jangchup – Park Center High School, Sarah Albertson – Mounds View High School, Andrea Leiser – Mounds View High School, Susan Mayberry – University of Minnesota, Esha Rangnekar – Wayzata High School
Top Row: Jonathan Krejci – St. Paul College, Derek Schnobrich – St. John’s University, John Alfveby – North St. Paul High School, Brittany Williams – Patrick Henry High School

MBV Alumnus is Finalist in 2006 Minnesota Cup

Ali Nkosi, past BestPrep intern, MBV alumnus and staff, was recently selected as one of three finalists in the student category of the 2006 Minnesota Cup, a competition that rewards innovation and entrepreneurship among Minnesotans. Nkosi’s business is called Mycollegehousing.com and provides a place for college students and property managers to meet each other’s needs effectively and efficiently. Over 650 teams competed in the 2006 Minnesota Cup in both student and professional categories.

Mycollegehousing.com provides a service for students to search housing options around the University of Minnesota, which property owners have listed for free. If a lease is signed, the students receive $100 cash and the property owners pay a small nominal fee for the signed lease. Nkosi says, “We have just finished putting together a proposal to give to potential investors, angel investors, and business banks on getting, grants, loans and other forms of monetary funds to grow the company. Mycollegehousing.com is currently used at the University of Minnesota, and will expand to other schools in the near future.”

Prior to launching his web service, Nkosi served as Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of NRG-X Entertainment, Inc., a mobile disc jockey company. Through aggressive marketing and sales, Nkosi increased revenues at NRG-X Entertainment, Inc. by 40% in one fiscal year. Nkosi’s partner in this endeavor was Dan Huynh, another MBV alumnus.

While Nkosi was a student at the University of Minnesota, he interned with BestPrep. This introduced him to Minnesota Business Venture (MBV). Since then, he has been volunteering and working at MBV each summer. He is now a commercial mortgage loan broker with Welsh Capital, a top full service commercial real estate firm in the Twin Cities.

While attending one of the MBV 2005 seminars he came up with his personal motto which has inspired him to work very hard at anything he puts his mind to:

“Without execution and follow through, ideas are nothing.” ~ Ali Nkosi (MBV, 2005)

National Organizations Recognize BestPrep

BestPrep recently received two national grants, one from the Foundation for Financial Planning (Tucker, Georgia) and the other from the EDS Foundation (Plano, Texas).

The $25,000 grant from the Foundation for Financial Planning will be used to develop a replication model for other states to use BestPrep’s financial literacy curriculums. BestPrep will be working with the Financial Planning Association of Minnesota on this endeavor.

The EDS Foundation made a $30,000 continuation grant to BestPrep for its TECH CORPS® program. They had previously funded TECH CORPS in 2004 to help launch eMentors and the Technology Integration Workshop for Teachers. In addition, they provided for equipment, hardware and software. The current contribution will provide a new laptop computer and software programs. Also, funding includes program development for TECH CORPS’ four initiatives and for the creation of a new TECH CORPS database.

Ninth Annual "Birdies for BestPrep" a Success!

More than 350 people attended the ninth annual “Birdies for BestPrep” special event on Saturday, January 27, 2007 at the McNamara Alumni Center on the U of M campus. The evening included miniature golf, a golf simulator, caricatures, 270-item silent auction, and fabulous food catered by D'Amico. The event raised more than $60,000, which will benefit BestPrep’s business and financial literacy programs, with a special focus on students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Highlighting the event was the presentation of BestPrep’s Humanitarian Award to Medtronic. The award was accepted by Medtronic’s CFO, Gary Ellis. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Medtronic and BestPrep's partnership educating Minnesota students for success.

New this year at the event was Four Shadow, the a cappella singing sensation from Minneapolis. They entertained the “Birdies” attendees with two performances from the entertainment stage.

The date has been set for the 10th annual “Birdies for BestPrep!” Mark your calendars for Saturday, January 26, 2008. The event will once again be held at the McNamara Alumni Center and feature fabulous food catered by D’Amico. For more information about next year’s event or to become an event sponsor, please contact Elizabeth Johnson at 763-398-0090 x 225 or ejohnson@bestprep.org.

Technology Integration Workshop - Providing Experiential Education

“My job shadow was excellent! I learned a lot about something I was very unfamiliar. My Business Partner and others helped me understand how business and education are not far apart.”
~Jeremy Struck, 2006 Technology Integration Workshop Participant

“This experience opened my eyes to some of the possibilities of integrating technology and inspires me to do more. I also learned important employer expectations for new employees.”
~Marv Tjaden, 2006 Technology Integration Workshop Participant

BestPrep’s Technology Integration Workshop helps teachers create experiential learning experiences for students by integrating technology and workplace skills into current curricula. Participants bring a previously taught lesson plan they would like to improve by developing a new approach for teaching the content. With the help of a Technology Integration Specialist, teachers develop at least one technology infused lesson or unit to use in their classroom during the next school year. The collection of all previously developed lessons can be found online.

As part of the program, teachers are connected with a volunteer Business Partner. They spend a half-day job shadowing their Business Partner to better understand the skills students need to succeed after graduation. Teachers use this experience to develop more relevant curriculum that connects with real-world applications. Volunteers from high-tech firms and other businesses help teachers understand the importance of linking lessons to the workplace. Some of the areas most needed include graphic design, engineering, software development and maintenance, project management, communications, marketing, and advertising.

The Workshop is offered at the Carlson School of Management on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis from July 30 – August 2, 2007. Teams of teachers are encouraged to attend. Teams consist of 2-5 teachers from the same school or district. The fee for teams to participate is $175 per person for two team members; 3 to 5 members per team is $150; and the individual fee is $200 per participant. (The Workshop fee qualifies for Perkins and Tech Prep funding.)

More information and applications are available online or by calling Bonnie Vagasky 763-398-0090 x227.


Students and Mentors Learn from Each Other Through eMentors

As we enter the second half of the 2006-07 school year, eMentors continues to grow! At the end of January, BestPrep had made 23 company-classroom connections. These connections have the power to change the lives of the 1,900 students and mentors, representing sixteen schools and nineteen companies.

“The eMentors initiative is a great way to effectively establish and enrich relationships and connect with young people. We learn from each other and that is what making connections is all about.”
~Joan K. Rossi, Financial Planning Association of MN 2007 President.

eMentors provides students with caring adult role models. Mentors and students exchange one email message per week for 6-10 weeks. The emails are guided by a series of Guiding Questions developed by the teacher and BestPrep staff to ensure that the mentors and students gain the most from the experience.

Some of the Guiding Question topics include career and college experiences, teamwork, ethics in business, and conflict resolution. Another popular series of Guiding Questions is related to financial literacy skills such as credit and debt, budgeting, and the importance of developing a long range savings plan. Lakeville North High School teacher, Pat Kittock, commented on the benefits of the eMentors, "You just can't replace real-world examples."

Please contact Bonnie Vagasky at bvagasky@bestprep.org or 763-398-0090 x227 for more information.

Totino Grace Student Places Third in InvestWrite National Essay Contest

Zac Rehbein, a junior from Totino-Grace High School, placed third in the national InvestWrite essay competition during the fall session of the 2006 Stock Market Game™. Zac’s essay was chosen from more than 7,000 entrants in the InvestWrite essay competition. The title of his paper was, "Playing the Wild Restaurant Game." Zac received a trophy, plaque and a laptop computer for his achievement. His teacher, Farah Vogt, also won a laptop computer and a year subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

The InvestWrite essay competition was designed to help students in grades 4-12 bridge classroom learning with potential real-world investment decisions. Students are provided a topic and an investment scenario, which requires them to assess, research, and then formulate possible solutions based on their own findings, logic and ideas. InvestWrite is a teacher-designed program which reinforces each student’s newfound knowledge while sharpening their critical thinking skills.

For more information regarding The Stock Market Game or InvestWrite, please contact Ryan Tews at rtew@bestprep.org or 762-398-0090 x 233.

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