THOUSAND OAKS : Youths Learn Teamwork at Business Session

Tinker toys and Koosh balls can teach teen-agers a lot about business.

Melissa Dugan, human resources director at Power One Corp., used the props to illustrate the dynamics of teamwork to 50 Ventura County high school students during the county’s fourth annual California Business Week at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

During one of 28 seminars offered at the weeklong conference which began Monday, Dugan instructed the teen-agers to build competing tinker-toy towers to show the importance of planning ahead. In a creative thinking exercise, the students had to figure out the way to get the fringed rubber Koosh ball into everyone’s hands as quickly as possible.

“I wish they had had something like this when I was in high school,” Dugan said. “It’s great to have exposure to the business world.”

In addition to the seminars, students were assigned to fictional companies, where they write business reports and invent and market a product.

“Ours is top secret,” said Moorpark High student Keri Gushwa, who attended the seminar to examine career opportunities in economics.

Products invented by students at past seminars include toilet seat heaters and opera glasses with a television screen in one eye for those who would rather watch baseball.

Runako Price, 16, who will be a junior at Hueneme High School, said the hands-on training will help him when he starts his own dance club.

“I want to learn about business from the bottom up,” he said.

Participants paid $25 to register for the seminar.

A $250 enrollment fee was covered by area businesses, which are also providing volunteer speakers at the event. Topics covered include research and development, financial markets, marketing and advertising, and the all-important “how to get a job.” The program was open to all Ventura County students who will be juniors or seniors in the fall.

“This is a point in their lives where they’re making decisions,” chairwoman Priscilla McDaniel said. “What they hear here could change their life. It’s kind of like they’re getting mini MBAs.”