Senior Looks Back on Her GopherBusiness Experience
Monday, September 1, 2014
BY KEVIN MOE
This summer marked the fifth year of GopherBusiness, a weeklong summer camp at the Carlson School for high-caliber junior and senior high school students. The program was created to serve and support students from diverse backgrounds who may have encountered barriers to educational resources and opportunities.
The week includes abbreviated core courses at the school and site visits to local companies. This year, the students visited Colle+McVoy to learn about marketing, branding, and the creative side of each and got to speak with account executives, brand managers, and creative directors. The students also visited GopherBusiness founding sponsor, Travelers, and played an interactive game around finance and insurance.
The week also includes a service project; this year the students went to the nonprofit Aeon and helped some low-income housing communities in south Minneapolis.
Many students who have attended GopherBusiness over the past five years have gone on to enroll at the Carlson School. Now, the first class of GopherBusiness students is set to graduate and earn degrees.
One of these students is Chloe Edwards, who is studying marketing at the Carlson School and minoring in mass communication in the journalism school. “I did not realize how much GopherBusiness would set me up for my future,” she says. “You do not realize the connections you are making when you are at camp with people who are going to be there to help you all throughout your college career and after.”
In her first year at the Carlson School, Edwards became the freshman representative of the Business Board, competed in a case competition, and was rewarded with the honor of Carlson Freshman Student of the Year. Her choice of major came right out of GopherBusiness. “The most enlightening experience for me was visiting Colle+McVoy,” she says. “After touring the agency and learning about what it does, I realized that I really wanted to pursue my major in marketing and one day work in an ad agency.”