Funding Sought for Youth Business Camp

Dana Weber Young, chairwoman of the upcoming California Business Week camp for Ventura County high school students, put out a call to the business community last week for contributions of money and time to help run the program.

The fifth annual camp, open to students entering the 11th and 12th grades in the fall, will be held Aug. 4-9 at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The $250-per-student tuition is funded by corporate and private donations. The entire program costs about $33,000 to run.

“If we want to have world-class employees and world-class employers, we have to have world-class students,” said Young, manager of corporate development for the Limoneira Co. of Santa Paula. “As a business community, we can help students by whetting their appetites.”

In addition to financial contributions, Young said she is looking for business leaders to serve as camp advisors.

During their camp stay, students will hear presentations from about 25 local business people who will cover topics such as marketing, inventory control and hot businesses of the future, Young said. Steve Barnard, president and chief executive of Oxnard’s Mission Produce, will open the session with a motivational speech.

Students also will form fictional companies and make business decisions during the week.

“It’s really a practical application of what it’s like to be entrepreneurs doing business. We’re teaching not just about making profits, but about corporate responsibility to a community,” Young said. “We try to expose them to a lot of different careers.”

California Business Week is part of an international organization that operates in 30 states and in Australia. Anyone who would like to help may call 289-9700.