CWU Many Faces of Entrepreneurship Tourney at Kittitas on Friday

CWU's Many Faces of Entrepreneurship (MFE) Tournament at Kittitas Secondary School will be held Friday, Octo

ber 18. The annual event is conducted by the CWU College of Business (CB) Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I4IE), along with continuing support from the Herbert B Jones Foundation.

"We will be working with the high school students during the morning, building different pet products with CWU student actors portraying customers," Bill Provaznik, I4IE director, explains. "CWU students will also portray supply store representatives and lawyers, while others will serve as mentors helping the high school students through the process of designing, building, and marketing their products."

The goal of the program is to teach students how to create, start, and successfully operate a start-up business venture.

"I4IE's mission is to make business ownership a reality for students whose backgrounds typically lack the chance for entrepreneurship as a career," says Provaznik. "Our programs have already impacted thousands of students in central Washington."

Business professionals and about CWU entrepreneurship students help lead the instruction, which allows the entrepreneurship students to hone the business and management techniques needed to work with high school students throughout the time-sensitive, single-day tournament.

"Our students get to experience the role of mentoring someone else through a process of developing their own commercialized ideas," Provaznik adds. "The Central students and business professionals will act as peer-to-peer mentors to the high school students and judge the various market plans that they prepare."

The program's initial MFE workshop in was held at Kittitas Secondary School in 2014, with 24 students in attendance. Since then, the workshop has evolved into a program connecting high school students with entrepreneurship for school districts across the state.

"I4IE's mission is to make business ownership a reality for students whose backgrounds typically lack the chance for entrepreneurship as a career," notes Provaznik. "Our programs have already impacted thousands of students in central Washington. That's why we're excited to be able to expand the program's reach."

For the first time, CWU's MFE tournament will also be held in western Washington. The tourney, on November 13 at the Seattle Marriott Convention Center, will feature an expected 250 Highline School District students.

-30-

Media contact: Robert Lowery, Department of Public Affairs, director of Radio Services and Integrated Communications, 509-963-1487, Robert.Lowery@cwu.edu