For the last six years high school students from all over Alaska have had the opportunity for a week of hands on practical experience in the world of business thanks to the Alaska Business Week program sponsored by the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. Nichole Schuh is the program director and addressed a joint Chamber of Commerce meeting in Soldotna recently to promote the program. This year the program will be held at the Alaska Pacific University campus in Anchorage and will run from July 18th-25th. “The program is for high school students currently in 9th -12th grade and is basically a crash course in business, leadership and entrepreneurship,” said Schuh.

According to Schuh about thirty to forty business leaders from around the State of Alaska will sign up for different roles throughout the week to mentor the students, “We have company advisor roles that come and help the students through the whole week to develop their business. Then we have judges that come in toward the end to score the students presentations and give them feedback as well as having different motivational speakers talk about their success in business as well as information on how to actually start a business,” she said. The participants live on campus where they work as teams, mentored by a business leader from the community. “Through our partnership with University of Alaska students will also receive two college credits when they successfully complete the program requirements.

The program costs $475 to attend for the whole week which includes room and board and any materials they may need. The students gets to make new friends and interact with students from around the state,” says Schuh. The actual costs are more like $2,000 per student for the week, but Schuh says those are differed by sponsorships. This year’s Alaska Business

Week has 65 slots available and students from the Peninsula are encouraged to attend as Anchorage is the closest venue that the program has ever been held and locations change from year to year. “There have been students in the past from the Kenai Peninsula and the Soldotna Chamber I’ve been told is offering a scholarship to attend the Alaska Business Week this summer.

Students may only attend the program once and may not repeat the program but if they are interested we have intern slots alumni can apply for,” said Schuh. To register or learn more go to www.alaskachamber.com/ABW or contact Nicole Schuh at 907-278-2744. To apply for the Soldotna Chamber scholarship for ABW contact Tami at 262-9814.