Students set sights on business world
Thursday, November 29, 2001
By JACQUELINE WALSH
NORTHAMPTON - George Z. Bakuli dreams of running his own business, and at 17, the high school senior can see it in his mind: a nightclub in Amherst.
Rafael I. Quizong, a sophomore at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School, already wonders what it's like to own a small business, "rather than working for a big business and just being part of the pack," he said yesterday.
Bakuli, the president of the school's Future Business Leaders of America chapter, and Quizong listened eagerly yesterday afternoon to two young entrepreneurs who spoke to about 60 students at the school. They were there as part of the kickoff to the school's new Junior Entrepreneurship & Invention Enrichment Program.
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts is donating $33,000 to the program.
"The program will help kids think out of the box. Kids get confined and don't have the opportunities to express the great ideas they have. This is a way to let their minds go wild," said Brian A. Zuckerman, treasurer of the charities.
Jennifer K. Suglia did some inventing herself: the idea for the Amherst-Pelham Regional program came from Suglia, who is the associate director of the Center for Manufacturing Productivity at University of Massachusetts' College of Engineering.
"I'm really just inspired by creative thinkers. I wanted to give the students something to be inspired by," said Suglia, who is the director of the Junior Entrepreneurship program.
Through January, real-life inventors and business owners will speak to the students, including Steve Herrell of Herrell's Ice Cream Corp. and Victoria White of eclecTechs, both in Northampton.
Starting in January, the students will begin working on their own plan. They will each produce an executive summary, midway between a pitch and a business plan. They will compete for a $300 prize for the best summary, with runners-up winning $100. The winners will get a chance to present their ideas to a group of potential backers, Suglia said.
Paulette Pinn, a business teacher at the school and adviser to the Future Business Leaders club, is also involved in the program.
"The bottom line is we think that at age 18 everything falls in place. But we need to at an early age teach them to make decisions and to be handlers of power. Because at some age we will have to hand the power over," she said.
Yesterday, Paul G. Silva, 24, of Amherst talked about his company, Zform, which makes multi-player, online computer games that the blind can play as easily as those who see. A blind friend at UMass inspired him.
"The real key is to dive into your passion," he said.
The other speaker was Joshua C. Kerson, 33, a UMass junior and the inventor of SpinCycle, a hybrid tricycle that uses arm and leg power to run a generator. It powers the rear wheel, allowing the rider to get up hills with ease.
"If you're interested in stuff like this, it's really possible. You just have to open your mind and say, 'I'm just going to take this forward,'" Kerson said.
© 2001 UNION-NEWS. Used with permission.
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