Hello Everyone,

We know that this is a little late, but we have finally decided to put our winnings towards Heifer International. Heifer is an organization that is fighting against world hunger by donating farm animals to poverty-stricken families in the third world. What makes this organization unique is the families give-away the offspring of the animal, so the gift keeps giving. We feel that this is a renewable and worthwhile cause to make a donation.
Heifer has won multiple awards for its work. For example, Heifer won Fast Company's Social Capitalist Award at the highest level, which shows how they are promoting social entrepreneurship throughout the world, which we felt truly fits into the vision of the CORE course. Additionally, we liked how this organization fits in with the Beck’s Prime competition as Heifer focuses on a food related mission. We enjoyed this competition and we are excited about the work that our donation will accomplish.

Contact: Stephen Diehl
802-443-5629/scdiehl@middlebury.edu
January 30, 2008

IMMEDIATE

“This is the first class I’ve taken at Middlebury that requires teamwork, time management and public speaking every single day of class. This will be really helpful for the rest of college and after I graduate.” – Pamela Yeo, MiddCORE student

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – An innovative new winter term course at Middlebury is giving students an intensive taste for the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurial thinking. Professor of Economics Michael Claudon, along with alumni Brent Sonnek-Schmelz and Nicolas Boillot, developed the course called MiddCORE: Creativity, Organization, Risk and Entrepreneurship, for the 4-week winter term in between semesters, in conjunction with the college’s Project on Creativity and Innovation in the Liberal Arts.

Hey Midd Corps,

I'd like to be a part of the CORE exhibit at the student symposium this spring along with anyone else who wants to plan and organize it with me. CORE has been one of the best, if not THE best learning experience I've ever had. I think anyone else would agree that people should know what we've been doing all month and what the implications of a class like this are. I think CORE has huge potential to expand and become a new facet of the overall Middlebury identity and I'm proud of being a member of our inaugural class. Hopefully, we'll all be able to stay connected and involved, mentoring subsequent generations of CORE students, and maybe someday even assigning case competitions.

The following are comments on the previous post (and so are a bit hidden on this main page). I decided to promote them to their own thread since the concept of www.Kiva.org may inspire some interesting conversation here.

My 2 cents -- Kiva has an intriguiging idea to bring microlending to the masses and is definately worth considering. I have been using it for a while and am impressed. Ken D. feels the same way. Check it out.

www.kiva.org

(the links on the comments below probably won't copy well. See the comments section on the previous post for more info)

“We’re here to talk about flatware loss,” I said frankly to Dave Lazarus, the manager of the Lake-View Restaurant in South Burlington. It felt like a conversational-crutch that someone would employ when terribly desperate at a cocktail party…

“Enough about the weather, have you heard about the flatware loss that restaurants endure these days?”
“No!? Go on!”

But today this was not a crutch and this was not to pass time at a cocktail party; Ashley Bell and I were engaged in market research for our latest MIDD CORE case study: Flatware Recovery System, Inc (FRS). Just down the road, at a different restaurant, Kazuaki Okumura and Alex Kent, our other group members, were engaged in a similar conversation. We were on a mission to size up the issue of flatware loss in area restaurants including: their annual cost, the frequency of flatware reorders, the mechanisms in place to reduce loss, and possible solutions.

I have been speaking with many alumni and friends, asking them for the top two items on their wish list for new hires other than accounting and corp fin. A stronger ability to set/formulate goals tops many of these lists.

For example, on alumnus expressed frustration with both existing employees’ and new hire candidates’ inability to set goals, “Good organizations and successful entrepreneurs make good goals. Teaching your kids to set goals would be a huge plus for them.”

As currently structured our curriculum does not explicitly addresses this deficiency. However, as MIDD CORE development team member, Brent Sonek-Schmelz '98, cautions, teaching goal setting in a vacuum makes little sense. Anyone can Google and then memorize the elements of the SMART goal setting approach, for example.

I am happy to inform you that an outpouring of intensive collaboration, creativity and plain hard work has transformed the raw concept of a "Business Boot Camp" into an exciting Winter Term program that will give students one course credit combined with a career-propelling experience. To that end we believe that MIDD CORE will enjoy broad appeal and add substantial value to the educational experience at Middlebury College.

MIDD CORE – Creativity, Organization, Risk and Entrepreneurship
Prepare for paths less traveled

MIDD CORE, an intensive four-week immersion program during the Middlebury College Winter (January) Term, offers students who are curious about business, social organizations and entrepreneurship an opportunity to gain critical skills and experience through an attractive alternative to majoring in economics. Its curriculum is a blend of traditional classroom work (teaching, readings and assignments); personal interaction with highly-successful guest professionals; experiential and collaborative learning; group projects; public speaking; written communication; and organizational and leadership challenge experiences.

Hello Digital Bridges Community!

I'm posting to ask for your help. Hart-Boillot does PR, advertising and design/branding for business-to-business technology and biotechnology firms. We help companies that have had trouble getting media attention, that are held back by lackluster image, and that have challenges communicating complex messages to their audiences.

Over the last 8 years we have been on a slow-but-steady "build a great business" growth track. We have never borrowed money, and have been profitable every year except 2002. In 2006, we had a banner year, in part because we systematized many of the processes that we developed over the previous seven years, and in part because we learned how to sell. In the first six months of 2007, we achieved 85% of 2006 sales, with excellent client retention and satisfaction, excellent employee satisfaction and high profitability.