February officially marks Entrepreneurship Month for the state of North Dakota, which is all thanks to one local school.
The Mandan High School DECA program hopes this month will bring students, business owners, and entrepreneurs all around North Dakota together.
Mandan DECA members first went to the city asking local commissioners to honor the idea. But then, Governor Doug Burgum found out. He took the city-wide idea, statewide. Marking February as Entrepreneurship Month for the entire state of North Dakota.
But also making DECA students at Mandan proud of what they do.
“DECA here at Mandan High School kind of takes what they do at the state level and work on different projects within the classroom and then within the community,” says Marketing Instructor and DECA Advisor at Mandan High School, Don Fry.
This year the Mandan High DECA members wanted to do something bigger than ever.
MHS DECA Chapter Vice President, Colton Reisenauer says, “Pretty much the goal was to just support local businesses and local entrepreneurships throughout the community of Mandan. But this year we wanted to support entrepreneurships and local businesses throughout the state of North Dakota.”
Throughout the month, DECA members and business professionals will be networking and speaking to students about career options and what business and marketing is all about.
“It definitely helps with your career planning. Like I already know in the future I want to own my own business and that originally started from joining DECA,” says Reisenauer.
The Mandan High School DECA advisor told me its important to start teaching kids business techniques earlier rather than later.
“One of the things I would really push all students no matter where they are at is to get involved with their careers,” says Fry. “The sooner you get involved in and understand what you want to be doing in high school the better off you will end up being.”
And with all the recent success, what are DECA’s plans for the future?
North Dakota DECA State Advisor, Kevin Reisenauer says, “I think just continue it. A lot of small towns don’t offer an entrepreneurship class or a marketing class, so we are looking at some online classes, we are looking at some virtual business classes that students can take so they can learn a little bit more about the opportunities that are involved in entrepreneurship.”
North Dakota currently has 6 Gold Level Enterprise Schools that are recognized on a national level for their DECA programs.
Mandan High School will be having their first ever entrepreneurship forum this morning. Governor Burgum will be there to discuss main street initiatives, entrepreneurship in North Dakota, and how the youth will impact the future of our state.