Youth Entrepreneurs Camp | Video

Evan Kruegel | 6/22/2012

Scarcity, democracy and cost-benefit analysis, these aren`t terms an average 10-year-old throws around in daily conversation, but most 10-year-olds don`t act like successful business owners. A group of 50 young students met at Williston State College this week for the North Dakota Youth Entrepreneurship Education Camp.

The eight through 13 year-olds had to design their own businesses, make their own products and run their own town.

"We want them to think like entrepreneurs. Seeing opportunity, marshaling the resources, and opening that business in the face of risk," said Camp Director Barry Striegel.

One of the more successful businesses belonged to Cody Curren, who runs the Tye Dye Store. "I was the last one to start, but after I got the first order in, everyone wanted one."

The entrepreneur camp teaches planning and risk taking, as students run their businesses however they want to.

"They come in with some pretty programmed classroom behaviors, where they`re expecting the teacher to tell them what to do all the time. They soon realize I`m not that kind of teacher. If they want to make a decision to affect their business or not, it`s up to them," Striegel said.

By watching the various businesses succeed and fail, Striegel can teach using real-world examples.

"The education comes from their activity, it`s experience based. So if I want to teach scarcity or cost benefit analysis, I wait for an opportunity to use one of their experiences as an example, and they`re not hard to find."

Who knows, one day one of these young entrepreneurs might just open a store of their own right here in North Dakota.

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