3-D printing adds new dimension to youth entrepreneur camp

Fast Facts

• Entrepreneur camps set for Feb. 21-23 at C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center, Ferndale
• Camps offered for ages 9-13 and ages 14-19
• Registration deadline is Feb. 10. For more information, contact Stacey McCullough at 501-671-2078 or Shannon Caldwell, 501-821-4668.

LITTLE ROCK – A camp that teaches youths ages 9-19 the basics of starting a business gets a new dimension this year as the young entrepreneurs use a 3-D printer to create their products.

“The camps give our youth the experience of bringing a business to life,” said Stacey McCullough, assistant director of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Public Policy Center. “Having the 3-D printer will allow them to bring their theoretical products into reality.”

The camp will be held Feb. 21-23 at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center in Ferndale, with an instruction team drawn from Cooperative Extension Service faculty with expertise in financial management.

In addition to the 3-D printer, other new features for this year’s camp:

• A technology fair to showcase how businesses use technology to increase sales, interact with customers, and raise capital.
• Real-world examples of social entrepreneurs who are working to make positive changes in society.

This year’s camps:

• Entrepreneur Camp-Basic.This camp is for 9-13 year olds will be developing business plans and producing goods and services for businesses they can actually start when they get back home.

• Entrepreneur Camp-Advanced.This camp is for 14-19 year olds who will create a team business and sell products they create using a 3-D printer, as well as developing individual feasibility plans for business ideas they are interested in after camp.

The Entrepreneur Camp was first offered in 2008, having grown out of a 2007 grant from Bank of America for workforce skills training. In 2010, 4-H began offering an advanced camp so the participants could build in previous years’ experience.

“Past participants have developed business plans for cake shops, horseback riding lessons, slingshots, pet supply stores, metal works, custom-made drawing and books, clothing stores, even an airline,” she said “One of the big hits in 2012 was a fake mustache business.”

McCullough said the most rewarding part is learning that “some of our kids go out and become entrepreneurs in real life.”

The camps begin Friday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. and end Sunday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m. Cost is $145 per person, and includes supplies, lodging, meals, and t-shirt. For more information, contact Stacey McCullough at 501-671-2078, or smccullough@uada.edu or Shannon Caldwell, 501-821-6884 or scaldwell@uada.edu.

"Campers also get to do things like canoe, have s'mores, enter a talent show, and other fun camp things you might not normally get to do outside of summer,” Caldwell said.  

To learn more about 4-H contact your county extension office, or visit the 4-H website.

The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

February 5, 2014

By Mary Hightower
The Cooperative Extension Service
U of A System Division of Agriculture

Media Contact: Mary Hightower
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2126
mhightower@uada.edu