CLUB FAQs

WHAT IS CAMP ENTERPRISE?

Camp Enterprise is a 3-day camp for high school juniors and seniors held at True Friends Camp Courage in Maple Lake, Minnesota. Camp E is designed to introduce students to the free enterprise system and encourage entrepreneurship and ethical business practices. Students also experience the core values of Rotary, including “Service Above Self” and the Four-Way Test.

WHO GOES TO CAMP ENTERPRISE?

Each year about 120 juniors and seniors attended Camp Enterprise from high schools across Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. Students with an interest in business, entrepreneurship, leadership, and innovation are encouraged to attend. The experience is often life changing.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO ATTEND CAMP ENTERPRISE?

The cost to attend Camp Enterprise is $415 per student, including meals and lodging. This cost is funded entirely through sponsorship from local Rotary Clubs throughout Districts 5950 and 5960. There is NO OUT OF POCKET COST to the student.

If you are interested in sponsoring one or more students, please fill out the sponsorship form.

Please note, due to the significant financial commitments necessary to operate Camp Enterprise, sponsorships are non-refundable. If you are unable to find a student in your local community, or your students are unable to attend for any reason, we will make every effort to use your sponsorship for a deserving student from another community.

HOW DO WE FIND A STUDENT TO SPONSOR?

We encourage Rotary Clubs to make every effort to identify a deserving student from their local community. In selecting a student to attend Camp Enterprise, please keep in mind that we don’t limit attendance to the students with the best grades or most extra-curricular activities. We want students with an interest in entrepreneurship and a positive attitude.

If you are unable to obtain sponsorship for any reason, we maintain a waiting list of interested students and, whenever possible, will match those students with Rotary Clubs who are unable to sponsor students from their local community.

In return for your generous sponsorship, students are required to send a letter of thanks and, wherever possible, attend one of your regular club meetings to share more about their experience at Camp Enterprise.

WHEN IS CAMP ENTERPRISE?

Camp Enterprise is a 3-day camp, held on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The dates of this year’s Camp Enterprise is Nov 2–4 2023.

HOW DO STUDENTS GET TO CAMP ENTERPRISE?

For security reasons, and due to limited parking availability, all students are required to ride charter buses from Southdale Mall in Edina. Please ensure your students have arranged reliable transportation to the mall.

Students should arrive no later than 10am on Thursday morning. The Buses will depart the mall at exactly 10:30am. Students will return to the same location by bus on Saturday afternoon, and should plan to arrive back at the mall at approximately 4:00pm.

HOW ELSE CAN MY ROTARY CLUB GET INVOLVED?

It takes nearly 100 Rotarian volunteers to make Camp Enterprise successful. We are looking for volunteers in the following roles:

Mentor: As a Mentor, you will be assigned to serve as an advisor and chaperone for one of the 15 case study teams. To serve in this role, you are required to be at camp the entire time. While serving in this role requires the largest commitment of time, it also is the most rewarding. No specific business skills are required.
Essay Reader: While at camp, the students have the opportunity to submit a short, written essay. Submission of an essay is required to be eligible to receive a scholarship. Essay Readers commit roughly 2 hours of time on Saturday morning to read and score the student essays, with each essay being read and scored by at least 3 different volunteers.
Venture Capitalist: At the core of Camp Enterprise is an in-depth case study exercise culminating with each team making a pitch to a panel of “venture capitalists” regarding a potential investment in their company. Venture Capitalists commit roughly 4 hours of time on Saturday morning to watch 3 case study presentations for the same hypothetical product.
Other: If you are interested in volunteering, but don’t feel like you fit one of the roles outlined above, let us know. We are always looking for additional volunteers to work “behind the scenes.”