Patricia R. Miller
Co-founder, Vera Bradley

Some of the world’s best-selling products were dreamed up by stay-at-home moms and designed on a pingpong table, sold initially from a single tea cart and created with borrowed video equipment.

It was a pleasure to connect in Tulsa at EC XII, and to hear that the Beyster Institute is still doing great things in promoting employee ownership in entrepreneurial ventures. I teach Entrepreneurship and Strategy here at Columbia College Chicago, which is the nation’s largest college for the fine, performing, media, and communication arts. I currently include a small section on employee ownership in my classes — mostly referencing the work of Jack Stack — but I’m very interested in how I might be able to incorporate Beyster materials to supplement my course and to introduce my students to this alternative ownership option. I would be interested in exploring (perhaps with one of your interns or junior consultants) any arts-related applications of employee ownership. As we discussed, I would be willing to provide feedback on how I incorporated the materials into my classes, as well as feedback from the students.

Ms. Laura Marshall
Business Instructor
Northern Oklahoma College
Tonkawa, OK

Please consider me for the Beyster Institute Scholars Grant. I will be instructing Introduction to Entrepreneurship for the first time in the Spring 2012 semester. I also teach several sections of Introduction to Business course where business ownership is discussed. I recently took a few students to a state-wide meeting entitled “Who Wants to be an Entrepreneur” on Friday, September 30. In class, I encourage students to think of the venture of owning a business and bring individuals in the community to speak to them about business ownership. I believe that opening the idea of employee ownership is wonderful. It gives the employees a vested interest in the business and is a morale builder.

Mr. Michael J. Noshay
Director of Entrepreneurial Studies
Entrepreneurship Magnet
East Central High School
Tulsa, OK

East Central serves a population of nearly 93 percent free and reduced lunch students, the key indicator of children living below the poverty line. Far too often students in our region are told time and time again that they are victims of a broken system and as such believe that breaking the cyclical nature of poverty is a task outside their locus of control. Over the course of our programs very short existence we have begun to create systems to help students realize their true potential along the path to success. A major pillar in this process is student empowerment. The four-year course of study that has been laid out for the students of East Central High’s Entrepreneurship Magnet walks them through the creative thinking process to find new and innovative ways to take charge of their lives and pay tribute to those around them that provide a positive influence. In turn it is their social responsibility to be a positive influence for their younger peers. To date we have seen tremendous growth amongst our junior level Entrepreneurship 2 students who have been challenged to be East Central ‘mentors‘. It is their responsibility to take ownership of our schools culture, offer suggestions for potential improvements and follow through with ideas that are voted into action. This new program is being done in conjunction with OSU masters students and Varrenhorst mentoring curriculum. We at East Central would greatly appreciate the opportunity to integrate the Beyster Institute’s curriculum to further bolster our efforts in correcting the injustices that society has afforded our unsuspecting student body.