Students gather at BizEd for a money-making education

When the economy hands you lemons, make lemonade. And if a college professor hands you plastic foam, pipe cleaners, felt, and glue, you might make, say, a prototype of a table that sets itself or shoes that walk on water or a Prettifyer 3000 - a revolutionary device that takes care of all grooming needs. Then you sell it.

Brian Nieves, 17, of Pennsauken, was on the Prettifyer detail. Nieves, an entrepreneur-in-the-making who will be a senior this year, said he did not plan to let the recession deter him.

"There are still jobs," said Nieves, who attends LEAP Academy Charter High School in Camden. "You have to make yourself the product - sell yourself, market yourself."

Despite the continuing bleak economic outlook, something akin to hope was the operative spirit last week as 45 high schoolers from Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties gathered on the Rutgers-Camden campus for BizEd. A free two-week program now in its ninth year, BizEd acquaints students, who come recommended by their schools, with the disciplines of business.

"The key thing is we give them theory, but there's so much hands-on," said Joseph Haro, program coordinator for the Rutgers-Camden School of Business.

In addition to learning about marketing, finance, accounting, and management, the students are put into teams. Haro mixes urban and suburban youngsters. They get firsthand experience in tapping their own creativity and that of others to solve problems.

Hence, the prototype project. On their first morning in the program, the newly formed teams had just 45 minutes to come up with the idea for a new product, use the materials at hand to build a model, and come up with a sell strategy. Then they had to pitch it.

One three-man team got kudos for the "Jesus Shoe," a recreational device that would allow users to walk on water. The product's "sacrilegious name" would get it lots of publicity, team member Dean Szymanski, 17, of Audubon High School, said. Meanwhile, Michael Haines, 17, of Cinnaminson High School, reeled off some of the product's special features, including a button to summon the Coast Guard in case the shoes don't perform up to their billing.

At the end of the two weeks, each team will devise a business plan that will be judged. The winners will get laptop computers.

Kevin Sporer, now 25 and a financial adviser with Ameriprise in Medford, wasn't sure what profession he wanted to pursue when, as a high school junior, he entered the summer program. Maybe engineering, he thought. But by the end of two weeks, his mind was made up.

"I knew I couldn't go into any other field but business," Sporer said.

Still, these are singular times for the business-engaged, which most of the BizEd students seemed to be. The last several months have been a global blur of crashing markets, failing financial institutions, credit crunches, and outed executive bonuses, and there's no end in sight.

None of this was lost on the BizEd kids. A few even doubted the recession would be over by the time they graduate from college. For them, it's about following their fascination.

"If I'm not the head of a corporation, I'd start my own corporation," said Krupa Patel, 17, an Eastern Regional High School student whose parents have their own businesses. Either that or psychology, said the outgoing member of Team Prettifyer, who acted out the product's before and after effects as part of her group's presentation.

Rebecca Welsh, 16, of Pennsauken High School, sees a future in advertising or marketing. Her mom is in construction, and her father sells cars. This summer, she said, she will be helping her sister with the photography business she started.

"I don't think the recession is stopping me from trying to pursue my career," she said.

Bryan Barkow, 16, a student at Cherry Hill East High School and the son of an insurance broker and an administrative assistant, works at McDonald's. But he's got plans.

"I would like to open my own business one day," said Barkow, one of the few BizEd boys who wore a shirt and tie. "It changes every day, but I really enjoy the restaurant industry, fast food, maybe purchase my own franchise."

Zachary Spratt, 18, of Collingswood High School, said he'd like to try his hand at real estate, like his father. He said he likes the risk-taking and competitive ethos of business:

"If you're bad at it, it'll spit you out."

Sure, he said, there's greed in business, but it's everywhere else, too. And despite hard times, business isn't about to disappear.

"Business," he said, "runs everything."