Starting off with a bang

On Sunday, July 27, over 140 students arrived happily to Minnesota Business Venture on the St. John’s Campus. At 11:00 a.m. the students started arriving in bunches. After the hustle and bustle of registration, students and parents gathered in Pellegrene Auditorium to be inspired by Scott Morris of 3M. Scott spoke about the importance of purpose, passion and promise. 

Students split into their companies and, led by their Resident Business Leaders and student Chief Executive Officers, made their first introductions.  Later, David Clark from General Mills gave the first shareholder’s address of Minnesota Business Venture 2014. David spoke about the power of international markets in products like Häagen-Dazs.

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After dinner, the highlight of the night began: Junk Night! Each company chose nine pieces of random junk and had to create a product and an infomercial using all of the junk. Later, the companies presented their infomercials to the judges and the other companies. Company A won with the “Tie Shaver” as their invention. For rec time there was a fantastic ice cream social, a movie, and games of pickup basketball and volleyball.

After a good night’s sleep, the students arrived well rested and eager to start their first full day at Minnesota Business Venture. After a brief company meeting, everybody gathered for a shareholders address by David Mundt of Cargill. David talked about the importance of innovation in a changing world. 

Later in the morning the companies competed against each other in Corporate Olympics. Corporate Olympics is comprised of various teambuilding activities like the human knot and fun company pictures. After lunch, each student picked two of four presentations to attend. The options were buying a car, paying for college, and renting an apartment.IMG_5964