Student conference focuses on cooperative business skills
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A four-day workshop at Purdue University in July will show high school students how business cooperatives are started, structured and operated.
The theme of the National Institute on Cooperative Education Youth Conference July 23-27 is "Boiler Up for NICE."
"NICE is an exciting and educational opportunity where high school students have the opportunity to learn about cooperative business principles, develop valuable leadership skills and meet other students from across the country," said Carl Broady, Purdue Extension specialist in 4-H youth development and the conference planning chairman.
Student teams during the conference will form their own cooperatives, elect general managers, purchase items at wholesale cost from a cooperative distribution warehouse and resell those items to cooperative members or in non-member markets, Broady said.
Other conference highlights include tours of the Meadow Lakes wind farm in Brookston, and White County REMC in Monticello, which will focus on how electric cooperatives operate. They also will learn about the dairy and biofuels industries through interactive exhibits provided by Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks and the Indiana Soybean Alliance, respectively. A trip to Indiana Beach amusement park also is planned.
The conference begins with registration, starting at 1 p.m. July 23, and ends with the closing session at 10: 30 a.m. July 27. Registration is $325 per person. Broady encourages students to consider asking a cooperative to sponsor their fee or apply for a scholarship.
For more information or to apply for a scholarship, visit https://www.2011NICE.org or contact Broady at 765-494-8435, broady@purdue.edu
Writer: Jeanne Gibson, 765-494-8402, jegibson@purdue.edu
Source: Carl Broady, 765-494-8435, broady@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
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