President's Message

With summer came more time to reflect and catch our breath before a new academic year begins with its burst of activities.

This past year the Foundation has strengthened its evaluation processes so that we can gain a deeper understanding of the impact our funding is having around the region. The results based purely on the numbers are promising. We are reaching more students, teachers and entrepreneurs than in the past. Pre- and post-program testing of students demonstrates gains in financial, economics, and entrepreneurship literacy. These results are indeed very gratifying and help to energize us for the challenging work ahead.

While we carefully analyze all the metrics associated with our grants, it is the stories and anecdotes that come from students, parents, teachers, and entrepreneurs that truly inspire us to persevere with our mission. When a student participates in an entrepreneurship experience and is able to connect the dots for the future, we know we have made a difference.

One such story came to us from a parent who wrote to express gratitude for her high school age son's opportunity to participate in Ohio Business Week this summer. This student learned that entrepreneurship and business can be matched with other disciplines to produce a winning combination for planning one's future. This student had also participated in Camp Invention as a child and realized that he was building on the skills gained through simple product development experiments.

He had connected the dots! We will keep working to connect the dots for lots of other creative and enterprising students who can help our region to be more entrepreneurial and prosperous.

Deborah D. Hoover
President