Thirty minority high school students from around the state will attend the 12th Annual Business Leadership Program from June 13 to June 19 on the CU-Boulder campus.
Participants from the Denver metro area include Philip Bird, Ida Mae Bolivar, Jonathan Lee and Le Tran of Aurora; Nicolas Casias of Thornton; Shijith Chacko of Littleton; Sara Elturk of Broomfield; Pa Lor and Angelo Villalva of Westminster; Adam Maher of Northglenn; Jason Ornelas of Commerce City; Jaynetta Johnson, Natalie Pablo, Nylah Rogers, Ida Broadnax and Lyman Wimbs of Denver; Diya Thomas of Golden; and Nathan Usrey of Lafayette.
Sponsored by the College of Business at the University of Colorado, the program is designed to expose high school juniors to business and computer skills and the rigors of college life. Participants live in a CU residence hall, work with College of Business faculty and Boulder-Denver area business leaders and learn college and financial aid application processes.
The College of Business and various corporate sponsors pay the cost of tuition, room and board. Sponsors include IBM, GTE, State Farm Insurance, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Deluxe Financial Services and PriceWaterhouse Coopers.
Among other activities, students will compete in teams to design image campaigns for a corporate sponsor. "The students really learn to work together and they develop fantastic presentation skills," said Lisa Hutton, program coordinator. "Business leaders and students who have worked with us in the past have raved about their experiences."
The Business Leadership Program is open to black, Hispanic, Asian and American Indian high school juniors interested in pursuing business careers.