A new course here at AES takes on possibly one of the best opportunities ever offered.
Mrs. Luquette’s business class, part of Ascension’s Institute for Business Education, welcomed Mr. Frank Wallace, associate dean of the college of business at UL, to speak last week. He came to talk about the Louisiana Business Challenge-Tourism in Louisiana.
The Lieutenant Governor’s Office and Department of Tourism are the political groups responsible for the challenge. High school students are invited to design a promotional plan for an area of interest in their parish or state, such as: a state park, library, museum, or festival to help boost tourism.
Not only does the project give real-world experience to students, but the students involved will be competing for scholarships. Six regional winners will be announced in February, and each winning team will be awarded $1,000. Regional winners will then move onto the state competition, which will be held at ULL on March 8th and 9th, 2012. First, second, and third place winners have a chance at more than $60,000 in scholarships.
All high school students are invited and encouraged to compete in the statewide competition. Each team is to have no more than four students per team. Each school is not limited on how many teams they can have.
The four components of the program are: Budget, Economic Impact, Promotional Plan, and a Management Implementation plan. Budget: How much will it cost to implement the plan? Economic Impact: How many new visitors will come to the area? Promotional Plan: How will the plan promote the area? Management Implementation Plan: How many people will it take, etc? The point of this project is to use social media rather than more conventional forms of media.
“We want you to dream, come up with a story,” said Mr. Wallace.
According to Mrs. Luquette, students in her business classes are beginning to brainstorm and explore their options for the project.
Students who would like more information or would like to register a team should visit http://moody.louisiana.edu.