Creativity and Entrepreneurship Workshop slated for March 1 at Penn State Berks

READING, Pa. — The Flemming Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) Center will hold a Creativity and Entrepreneurship Workshop for Reading School District middle school students enrolled in the Penn State Educational Partnership Program (PEPP) on Wednesday, March 1. This program will bring PEPP students to Penn State Berks for the day with the purpose of introducing them to entrepreneurship.  

The PEPP students will learn about entrepreneurship, self-assessment, and how to write a business plan. The workshops will focus on what it means to be an entrepreneur and innovative thinking. Throughout the self-assessment portion of the workshop, students will reflect on their passions and generate new ideas. Then participants will collectively work on a series of creative problem-solving activities and find innovative solutions for issues in their communities. Finally, students will learn the basics of a business model and practice developing their own business plan as a team.

Sadan Kulturel-Konak, professor of management information systems and director of the Flemming CEED Center, and Abdullah Konak, professor of information sciences and technology, are faculty advisers and workshop co-coordinators.

Collaborating with PEPP, the Flemming CEED Center has been organizing this workshop every semester since spring 2013.  

“Students show tremendous interest in this workshop, and we are always amazed with how much they can learn and apply within a day,” said Kulturel-Konak. “The feedback obtained from the participants shows that the workshop is effective in teaching them how to develop and expand their entrepreneurial mindset through creativity and problem-solving activities.”

Kulturel-Konak said that in the future the Flemming CEED Center is planning to expand the program and offer it to students in other middle schools.

For more information, contact Kulturel-Konak at 610-396-6137 or [email protected].