HANCOCK, Mich. (WLUC) – A collaboration between the Copper Country Intermediate School District, Breakwater Federal Credit Union and the Michigan Small Business Development Center resulted in their first-ever ‘Pike Tank’ all-day event Tuesday.
Held at Hancock Community Hub, the CCISD says 60 CTE juniors and seniors from Baraga, Keweenaw, and Houghton counties were invited to take part in activities focused on growing their skills. The activities included simulating running a business and a ‘Shark Tank’-like competition, focused on a student pitching a product prototype to judges, the ‘pikes’.
CCISD CTE Business and Entrepreneurship Instructor Steven Kass said this allows students to use what they’ve learned in the classroom.
“But also, it’s giving them confidence to get up in front of people and share their idea and maybe get some insight on how that idea can be improved and brought to the next level,” Kass said. “Entrepreneurship; it’s rocket fuel for small communities.”
The students were also spoken to by keynote speakers, InvestUP CEO Marty Fittante and MTU Research and Innovation Senior Associate Vice President Jim Baker. We asked Baker what some of the obstacles young entrepreneurs face in the U.P. are.
“We are limited in resources,” Baker said. “We are limited in talent resources, we’re limited in capital resources, we’re limited in logistical convenience to major markets.”
We then asked how entrepreneurs, like the ones at Tuesday’s event, can overcome these challenges.
“It’s going to take a team to solve those problems,” Baker added. “They don’t have to, nor can they, solve those problems by themselves…If the students don’t take anything else away from today, that’s my hope: that they realize they own the future and they can solve these problems… and they need to exercise creative skills to do that.”
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