Not another camp story!
- Tiffany Head | June 19, 2015
It's summer and numerous camps are coming up and being advertised. When you think of camping, you usually think of lakes, tents and mosquitoes. But this is not that kind of camp.
The First Nations School of Business and Public Administration is presenting the 7th Annual Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship camp (AYEC).
This is the seventh year that the First Nations University of Canada will be hosting the camp. Twenty-five Aboriginal youth in grades 11, 12 and recent high school graduates will be chosen for the opportunity.
Langan Goforth, the Camp co-ordinator, says that there are many applicants and they usually go through a screening process.
“They need to write an essay. We go through the ones looking for entrepreneurship and have unique business ideas,” said Goforth.
The students will get to experience one week of university life and live in dorms on campus, eat in the university cafeteria, and even attend business classes on topics such as entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, human resources, and operations management.
The students also engage in cultural activities, team-building and fun activities such as golf, scavenger hunts, and field trips to locally-owned businesses.
Bradyn Parisian, AYEC supporter and sessional instructor at the FNUC says that positive outcomes from the camp are enumerable. The youth learn that post-secondary studies are not as intimidating as they might seem.
“I like to describe the camp as the first year of a four-year business program crammed into one-week. Add a bunch of fun extracurricular activities on top of that. Then add a major term project to the mix. The kids truly earn their stripes, and are entitled to a sense of achievement,” Bradyn Parisian said.
“I am proud of each and every one of them for venturing into uncharted waters in pursuit of self-discovery. I’ve yet to encounter an unhappy camper... pun intended”.
Many of the campers have pursued business and entrepreneurship as a career choice upon graduating from the camp.
The program is highly structured and has been refined over nearly a decade of successful camps. Students have access to student mentors who have a desire to share their wisdom.
“More professional entrepreneurs will be attending the camp this year as role models and speakers, we have Kendal Netmaker as a speaker this year as the students can relate to him, his brand is well known with aboriginal youth or neechie youth, Goforth said.
The camp will be held at the FNUC in Regina from August 8th-14th. The deadline to apply for the camp is July 15.
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