Leaders from Microsoft, Starbucks and T-Mobile Pull Back the Curtain for Giant Campus Students
Business Executives, lifelong video game designers and a consultant to President Obama inspire teens and provide actionable career steps in new online speaker series
SEATTLE — August 24, 2010 — Giant Campus, a nationally recognized leader in innovative technology, marketing and business education programs for youth and adults, today announced the availability of its interactive speaker series, Giant Campus Career Connections (http://www.giantcampuswa.com/our-programs/career-connections). The newly launched online series will enable high school students to learn firsthand how some of the leading marketing, business, and graphic and game design professionals from Burger King, Microsoft, Starbucks and T-Mobile turned a passion into a life-long successful career. This series regularly exposes Giant Campus students to real-world insight into technology, entrepreneurship and marketing that they cannot get anywhere else. Each of the speakers helped develop products and designs teens use and see every day.
The students will connect with:
- Denny Marie Post– Former Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Office at T-Mobile USA, Senior Vice President at Starbucks, Senior Vice President at Burger King, and Chief Innovation Officer at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
- Dan Price– 26 year old Founder/CEO of Gravity Payments, the largest credit card payment processing company in the Northwest. Price started Gravity while a freshman in college and was named the Entrepreneur of the Year by the SBA and President Obama for 2010. He consults with President Obama and other high-ranking officials on issues important to entrepreneurs.
- Clayton Kauzlaric– Senior Design Director at Microsoft Game Studios has worked as an artist, game designer and creative director on console and PC titles for nearly 20 years. Clayton also created the Xbox action-adventure gameVoodoo Vince.
- Chris Novak– Design Architect for Microsoft Game Studios. Over his career, Novak has designed for game franchises like Crackdown, Project Gotham Racing, NASCAR, and Knockout Kings.
- Mark Popich– As Design Director at the branding and creative agency Hornall Anderson Design Works, Popich has received numerous awards for work with companies like Eos Airlines, the Seattle SuperSonics, Microsoft, AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile and HTC.
“I am excited to share my experiences with teens from all over the world that are obviously as passionate as I was about pursuing a rewarding career,” said Career Connections speaker Denny Post. “By giving them insight into my business experiences at T-Mobile, Starbucks, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken, hopefully they will pick up on what worked and what didn’t and apply them as they begin their careers.”
Every month, each speaker will give a live online presentation, and conduct a question and answer session that will last a total of 45 minutes. Some talking points of the virtual chat will include:
- What steps are absolutely necessary as teens begin exploring careers
- What qualities are needed for careers in digital arts, computer science, or business and innovation
- What inspired the speakers
- Is there anything the speakers wished they knew sooner about their field
“Since teens today begin building their resume in high school, it’s important that they arm themselves with the most essential steps and skills to building careers in fields like technology and business early on,” said Giant Campus Founder and CEO Pete Findley. “Giant Campus Career Connections gives students unrivaled actionable insight into these fields while also breaking geographical barriers since it is offered exclusively online.”
Business no longer takes place entirely in-person, so why should DECA?
DECA Picks Giant Campus for First Ever Online High School Chapter
2009 Washington DECA Advisor of Year to be Giant Campus’s DECA advisor
SEATTLE — August 17, 2010 — Giant Campus (www.giantcampus.com), a nationally recognized leader in innovative technology, marketing and business education programs for youth and adults, today announced that it has formed the first online DECA chapter in coordination with Washington DECA. DECA is a student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
“Giant Campus is a perfect partner because it’s located right in our backyard in Seattle, is one of the leading online learning companies and has been preparing students for business-related careers since 1997,” said Washington DECA Executive Director Shanna LaMar. “We recognize that business no longer takes place entirely in-person and that’s why we’ve decided to launch this first- of-its-kind chapter, where students from all over Washington State can collaborate through a mix of virtual and in-person meetings.”
By being part of Washington DECA, Giant Campus’s marketing and entrepreneurship students will have the opportunity to participate in DECA competitions and events worldwide. As part of the program, students will operate their own online store, and will work in teams to create and present business and marketing plans at competitions. Lori Jacobs, the 2009 Washington DECA Advisor of the Year and a business and marketing education teacher at Auburn High School, will guide Giant Campus chapter participants through each of these competitions and events in her role as Giant Campus DECA advisor.
“I’m looking forward to helping launch a chapter which promises to change how our young business leaders learn life-long skills,” said Jacobs. “With the Giant Campus chapter, the barriers of geography, and a dedicated advisor are gone. Students in rural and metropolitan areas, and in private and public schools will have a platform to share ideas on a daily basis.”
Membership is open to all Washington State high school students who meet DECA membership requirements, do not attend a school with a DECA chapter and enroll in one of Giant Campus’ business courses. For fall, students taking Introduction to Entrepreneurship or Introduction to Marketing are eligible to join the online chapter.
“Being handpicked by DECA to launch this online chapter is an honor,” said Giant Campus Founder and CEO Pete Findley. “At Giant Campus, we are committed to providing a robust business and marketing curriculum for our students, and DECA membership is a key element to our program.”
The changing face of high school education just got another makeover.
Introducing five new online high school classes focused on technology and business innovation and one of them will involve green design and technology — the only online class of its kind! Read more about our new classes and how educational organizations can license for this fall! View the class videos here.
Question – Is your teen’s school fine?
“If you talk to most people, they will tell you they understand the issues involving education but that their school is just fine – And that’s just not true,” said Lisa Gersh, president of strategic initiatives at NBC (launching Education Nation in September 2010).
The Strong American Schools analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science on a list of 30 industrialized nations.
Washington state graduation rate is a staggering 62%.
Answer – Probably not.
Let’s accept the fact that our education system will not change overnight or much in the next 2-5 years. So, consider an option that’s positive and prepares students with the skills and knowledge needed for success in the knowledge-based, global economy – online schooling!
Online high schools are becoming a considerable force in today’s education. Nationally, online students have grown from 2.5 million in 1999 to 4 million today. By 2013, 10% of all “seat time” will be occupied by online instruction and within 10 years, 50% of seat time will be online.
Consider online schooling for your teen!
Power Up Your Brain…with Milk Cartons!
This past weekend, we participated in the annual Seafair Milk Carton Derby at Green Lake in Seattle, WA. Check out the photos below. To see more, visit our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Giant.Campus. We had a great time and are looking forward to next year’s derby!
JimmyDuke’s Cafe
On sunny Friday mornings at Giant Campus HQ, VP’s James Peters and Chris Dukelow break out their alter ego and open JimmyDuke’s Cafe for breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit and various pastries were on the menu this morning. Have you ever cooked pancakes or hash browns on the barbecue before? We did and they were delicious.
The Certificate is in the Building!
James Peters proudly displays the NAAS Accreditation Certificate!
Teens More Alert When School Starts Later
A recent article / report published by WebMD has found a simple half-hour delay in high school start time led to a significant improvement in students’ mood, alertness, and motivation, and increased their average sleep time during the week, according to a new study.
Judith A. Owens, MD, MPH, at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, R.I., and colleagues studied 201 students in grades nine through 12 attending a Rhode Island high school where the class start time was changed from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for a two-month period. Students completed online surveys before the change in class time and then after.
Owens and her team found that:
* The percentage of students getting less than seven hours of sleep per night dropped by 79.4%.
* Students reporting at least eight hours of sleep per night increased from 16.4% at the start of the study to 54.7% after two months.
* The percentage of students who reported feeling at least somewhat unhappy or depressed dropped from 65.8% to 45.1%.
* The percentage of students who reported feeling annoyed or irritated throughout the day also dropped, from 84% to 62.6%.
* Reports of visiting a health center for fatigue-related symptoms decreased from 15.3% to 4.6%.
* Sleep duration increased on school nights by about 45 minutes and the average bedtime on school nights was 18 minutes earlier.
The findings are published in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Online schooling provides the flexibility of school study times – when teens are most alert and happy!
