Students woke up early this morning excited for the day. Right after breakfast we all headed over to listen to our keynote speaker Jerrid Sebesta. He discussed the path to financial success by talking about money, habits and values. His motivational message was “Do not be a person that chases a pay check, chase your dream.” Following the keynote, it was time to go outside for CORPORATE OLYMPICS. 
Everyone had a great time with assorted team building games such as Charades and Ninja. Ninja is an especially fun game where everyone stands in a circle, each person takes a turn trying to tag the next persons to ‘get them out’ using only one move. During Corporate Olympics each company also got to take funny and creative company pictures together.
After lunch, students chose various breakout sessions to attend with each speaker leading a different topic. Sara Olson from Allianz Life led the “EQ” Emotional Intelligence session – EQ. In that session students learned how to be self-aware of their emotions and that typically people with higher EQ’s work better on a team. The reason why people want them on their team is because superior EQ skills are linked to high achievement, great teamwork, and effective stress management. We had also received a packet to help us understand the basics of EQ and why it matters.
Sara Croymans from the University of Minnesota led a session on Renting an Apartment. This gave students a guide on how to prepare for living on their own. It taught them how to become successful renters, they gained knowledge on how to find safe, affordable, and stable housing, and they were taught skills that helped them realize the responsibilities and benefits of landlord-tenant relationship. The best part of the session was an interactive budgeting game they played using pieces of candy. The goal was to rate each housing need/want based on the students’ priorities. They either had to place 1, 2, or 3 candies in each diagram depending on how important it was. It taught them that we need to cut back on certain things in order to have a sustainable budget. You may not be able to have what you normally would at your parents house and you need to get your priorities in order.
Ann Erickson, senior director of risk management and internal controls, was the speaker of the Credit Matters lecture. During her lecture she discussed the difference between good credit and bad credit and how it effects you throughout your life. Trysh Olson, Extension Educator in Family Resource Management, was the speaker of the Buying a Car Lecture. She again stressed the importance of good credit and discussed how to be a smart consumer. Jason Colvin led the final breakout on communication styles. He discussed how to ‘speak over people’s language’ and understand their personalities better. After a fun day of guest speakers, meetings, and cool team building competitions, we headed over to have a delicious dinner! It was nice seeing everyone bond so easily with each other after the first full day of camp. What a drastic change from the first day! After everyone ate, we took our MBV group photo.
Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for everyone to gather up for the picture – considering there were roughly 170 students. After the photo was taken, all the companies went to their meetings and discussed their business plan. After about 2 hours, everyone was free to enjoy their rec time. There was a lot to do! Some people went outside to play basketball and volleyball while others just enjoyed their peaceful night inside of Case Hill. What a great and busy day, can’t wait for tomorrow!