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Entrepreneurship Immersion Week is an intensive, weeklong entrepreneurship boot camp where undergraduate students learn and practice skills needed to develop business concepts and then compete in a team-based business concept competition.

The 5X���� team of Kyle Holt, Haumed Rahmani, Josh Strenk, Danielle Flemister, Josephine Gilliland and Ken Collier, all entrepreneurship majors or minors from the College of Business Administration, competed against students from nine other Northeast Ohio colleges and universities in August at Hiram College. Their winning idea was for AvaKare, a company looking to revolutionize children’s hospital wear, that took second place and earned them a $1,500 cash prize.

“Entrepreneurship Immersion Week was the most intense, sleep-deprived and rewarding week of my life,” says Gilliland, an entrepreneurship major. “The skills I learned and the people I was able to interact with have truly changed my life. Entrepreneurship Immersion Week has opened so many doors for me that the only question now is, which one should I take?”

Kent State had a large presence during the events including at Alumni Night with 18 students, alumni, faculty and staff representing the College of Business Administration.  Additionally, Denise Easterling, instructor of entrepreneurship at Kent State’s College of Business Administration, and Julie Messing, executive director for Kent State’s Blackstone LaunchPad, were both at Hiram College, providing workshops and coaching students throughout the week.

Brad Baumeister, a student at Kent State, competed on a blended team with students from Case Western Reserve University and Hiram College. The team from Ashland University placed first. John Carroll University took third place at the event.

For more information about Kent State’s College of Business Administration, including the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, visit www.kent.edu/business.

For more information about Kent State’s Blackstone LaunchPad, visit www.kent.edu/blackstonelaunchpad.