Click on the title of a news article to view the details.
| 7/5/2010 |
| |
Annual Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge a Great Success |
| 6/24/2010 |
| |
Congressman Hayes Shares Wisdom at E.A. Morris Banquet |
| 5/16/2010 |
| |
Host your next event at the Helms Center |
| 4/1/2010 |
| |
Inaugural Helms Lecture Now Available Online |
| 3/30/2010 |
| |
Helms Lecture Series Now Streaming Live Online |
| 3/29/2010 |
| |
Helms Lecture Series Live on C-SPAN - Featuring Ambassador John Bolton |
| 3/22/2010 |
| |
Helms Center remembers board member Leroy Pittman |
| 3/19/2010 |
| |
Inaugural Helms Lecture to be held in Washington, D.C. |
| 3/17/2010 |
| |
Dr. Paul Bonicelli to speak on March 18 as part of BB&T Lecture Series |
| 2/25/2010 |
| |
Latest Helms Center Newsletter Available Online! |
| 2/1/2010 |
| |
Helms Center Board Member Makes Local Headlines |
| 1/20/2010 |
| |
Helms Center Marks 10th Anniversary of Historic Speech |
| 1/4/2010 |
| |
Democracy Under Arrest - John Bolton |
| 12/15/2009 |
| |
Historic Hinson house gets renovation |
| 11/16/2009 |
| |
Helms Center Extends Operation Christmas Child Dates! |
| 10/19/2009 |
| |
Jack Laughery inducted into Charles A. Cannon Free Enterprise Hall of Fame |
| 10/1/2009 |
| |
Economist shares wisdom with full house |
| 9/20/2009 |
| |
2009 Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge graduates loan over $1300 to Kiva.org entrepreneurs |
| 9/1/2009 |
| |
Helms Center welcomes senior economist and WSJ Editorial Board Member Stephen Moore |
| 8/18/2009 |
| |
The Helms Center mourns the passing of Robert Novak |
| 7/2/2009 |
| |
Honoring Senator Jesse Helms |
| 6/1/2009 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge Prepares to Host over 200 Students This June |
| 5/10/2009 |
| |
Laws of Life Essay Contest Announces 2009 Winners and Finalists |
| 4/6/2009 |
| |
Helms Alumnus Published in The Washington Post |
| 4/3/2009 |
| |
Helms Center Presents at State-Wide Leadership Conference |
| 3/23/2009 |
| |
Helms Foreign Policy School at Liberty University |
| 3/20/2009 |
| |
John Allison, Chairman of BB&T, Addresses Helms Center Guests and Wingate Students |
| 3/18/2009 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center Awarded BB&T Grant |
| 2/11/2009 |
| |
What Would Jesse Say? |
| 1/13/2009 |
| |
Helms Center Featured in Leadership Institute Newsletter |
| 12/18/2008 |
| |
Statement From Helms Center President on the Passing of Paul Weyrich |
| 12/15/2008 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge Accepting Applications for Summer 2009 Sessions |
| 12/4/2008 |
| |
Helms Center Collects 5,800 Shoe Boxes for Operation Christmas Child |
| 11/13/2008 |
| |
FELC Graduates Travel to Peru |
| 11/3/2008 |
| |
Helms Center Partners With Dr. Troy Kickler for Teacher Workshop |
| 10/29/2008 |
| |
What is a Free Enterprise Hero? |
| 10/16/2008 |
| |
The Singing Revolution - Reserve Your Free Tickets! |
| 9/22/2008 |
| |
Make a Memorial Gift - Honor Senator Helms |
| 9/16/2008 |
| |
Laws of Life Essay Contest Kicks Off in October |
| 8/22/2008 |
| |
A Living Legacy: Helms Endures |
| 7/16/2008 |
| |
Former Staffers and Friends Remember Helms |
| 7/11/2008 |
| |
Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant |
| 7/9/2008 |
| |
The Passing of a Great Patriot |
| 6/30/2008 |
| |
Winners of 2007-2008 Laws of Life Essay Contest Announced |
| 5/5/2008 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge Expands For Summer 2008 |
| 3/26/2008 |
| |
Helms Center to Co-sponsor 3rd Annual North Carolina Conservative Leadership Conference |
| 3/11/2008 |
| |
Laws of Life Essay Contest: Deadline Extended |
| 3/10/2008 |
| |
Helms Foreign Policy School: April 18-19, 2008 |
| 2/20/2008 |
| |
Open an Account With Suntrust and the Helms Center Receives a $100 donation |
| 1/30/2008 |
| |
The More Things Change: What Senator Helms Would Say Today About Recent U.N. Budget Reforms |
| 1/15/2008 |
| |
Learn About Senator Helms’ Life and Legacy in His Own Words. |
| 11/5/2007 |
| |
Helms Center to Screen "The Call of the Entrepreneur" |
| 11/2/2007 |
| |
Helms Center Collection Point for Operation Christmas Child |
| 10/27/2007 |
| |
Scalia calls for strict interpretation of Constitution |
| 10/17/2007 |
| |
Justice Scalia to receive Nance Medal of Freedom |
| 10/17/2007 |
| |
Justice Scalia to receive Nance Medal of Freedom |
| 9/28/2007 |
| |
Fred Barnes to Speak at Founders Day Celebration |
| 9/7/2007 |
| |
“The Call of the Entrepreneur” Inspires Audience |
| 8/23/2007 |
| |
Helms Center to Premier “The Call of the Entrepreneur” |
| 6/13/2007 |
| |
“Call of the Entrepreneur” Added to FELC Curriculum |
| 5/16/2007 |
| |
Senator Jesse Helms Releases Statement on Passing of Reverend Jerry Falwell |
| 5/9/2007 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center Hosts Why We Serve At Days Inn Conference Center |
| 3/30/2007 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center & Atlantic Bridge Present British MP Dr. Liam Fox |
| 3/30/2007 |
| |
T. Boone Pickens tells what it takes to be M&A master |
| 3/29/2007 |
| |
Jesse Helms Series Lecture - T. BOONE PICKENS AT WINGATE |
| 3/8/2007 |
| |
T. Boone Pickens Set to Give Helms Lecture |
| 2/1/2007 |
| |
Center supports free enterprise |
| 12/19/2006 |
| |
Helms Forum to host Asst. Sec. of Defense Robert Wilkie |
| 11/26/2006 |
| |
Helms Center Collects Almost 2,700 OCC Boxes |
| 11/11/2006 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center Collection Point for Operation Christmas Child |
| 9/22/2006 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center to Host DOD Program “Why We Serve” |
| 9/20/2006 |
| |
A movement's right-hand man |
| 9/11/2006 |
| |
Program Instills Entrepreneurial Spirit |
| |
|
 Carolina Journal Exclusive - Raleigh, NC
Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge sponsors week-long programs
By Hal Young
RALEIGH — The business team was working out its plan to open a fast-food franchise in an overseas market. Although their target company offered a popular menu, it maintained its ethical reputation by keeping a tight control on franchise operators. That could present issues later in the process, they conceded, but it might not be a showstopper.
Of course, it will be a while before this Chick-Fil-A opens in Moscow; the business partners were all under 18 years old, and the exercise was part of a weeklong summer program that introduces high school students to the concepts of entrepreneurship, foreign and domestic trade, and business ethics, under the overarching banner of free enterprise.
Now in its 11th year, the Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge is a project of the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, east of Charlotte. Wingate University sponsors one session, while another is offered at Campbell University in Buies Creek. The cost of the program, including room and board, is entirely underwritten by private and corporate donors, with students providing only their transportation and a nominal activity fee.
The president of the Jesse Helms Center, John Dodd, first envisioned the program when he was a member of Sen. Helms’ staff in the 1980s. Given the task of identifying potential major donors and supporters, Dodd met numerous successful entrepreneurs and business leaders. The encounters left a lasting impression on him and gave him a desire to communicate the spirit and excitement of free enterprise to students.
The opportunity came in 1994 when Dodd was chosen to lead the new Jesse Helms Center. “Senator Helms gave the charge to me, 'I don’t want a dusty museum or a mausoleum to Jesse Helms. I want you to develop programs for young people,’” Dodd said. Dodd led the first year's program himself, then hired Marilyn Robertson, a retired business professor, to direct the Challenge, starting in 1996.
“I know that every kid is not going to become an entrepreneur, and probably most won’t,” Dodd said, “but you don’t have to put everything at risk to think and act entrepreneurially. In the era of globalization, everyone has to think outside the box.
“This is experiential learning,” he said. “Kids can develop ideas when they’re doing things; it can really drive home and change people’s lives.”
The experience is under way from the first hours on campus. Besides the Virtual Trade Mission, students meet with business and community leaders, write essays on ethics, and take backstage tours of successful endeavors such as the Charlotte FOX Network affiliate and Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers and one of the nation's few privately-owned professional sports arenas.
The centerpiece project of the Challenge, though, is the opportunity for students to form their own business, and they go through a crash course in what it takes to launch a successful venture.
“They elect a board, president, treasurer, and so forth, then they write a business plan,” said Derek Skinner, who arranges the speakers and staff for the program. “They write a mission statement, a budget, and a marketing plan; their goal is to make a profit by the end of the week. They’ll be providing real products or real services, for real money.”
Victoria Easter, a student at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in Mooresville, led a company that sold concessions at events during the week. Although she conceded her firm didn't make the most money, she said, “the practical lessons I took away were extremely helpful: learning how to manage funds, make choices that your business would best benefit from, working with others, sorting out legal documents.”
“It makes a packed week,” she said.
Javan Norris, a homeschooled student from Stanfield, said his experience was similar. Although unsure what to expect from FELC, Javan said, it was “a fun team experience.” His company produced a talent show for the end of the week, and while their expenses ate into their final profits, “it was a right decent success ... about fifty people from other teams came to the event, which probably made it the biggest company project that week.” He said he hopes to return for another year.
Skinner said that the students have always managed to end up in the black. “In all the years the program’s been running, no company has ever lost money.” Turning a profit is not the only goal, though.
“Many people don’t realize that we really focus on philanthropy and ‘giving back’,” Skinner said. “The two sessions this year made a total of over $1,400, and the students were free to divide that up among themselves or do whatever they wanted with it. In both sessions this year, though, the students gave 100 percent of their proceeds to charity.”
That principled approach to business is the hallmark of the program. Dodd is careful to point out that America's Judeo-Christian consensus provided a rich philosophical soil for free enterprise to grow. Unfortunately, many developing nations lack the moral and ethical climate that distinguishes between no-holds-barred capitalism and business success with a conscience, he said.
“Look at what has happened in Russia,” Dodd said. “They said, ‘Let’s have capitalism,’ but they have no moral underpinning to it; communism destroyed it all. Now they have 'capitalism,' but they’ve had problems with it, and the people are beginning to lose their freedoms again.”
A number of international students have taken part in the Challenge, , sometimes sponsored by American embassies in their countries. Dodd presented the program in Uruguay three years running, and a Mexican university has a “franchise” to operate the Challenge in 13 Mexican high schools. Both Dodd and Helms have a long interest in Latin America, and they believe it's important to take this message abroad.
Dodd said the realization that capitalism can also be ethical is an eye-opener to some of the international students. “The kids' eyes light up when you present this material,” he said. “There’s a win-win where all parties benefit — where labor wins, and business wins, and the government wins. The rule of law is there.”
“What I say to people in other countries is that we don’t claim divine intelligence. We claim a great blessing which we inherited from our ancestors and the culture of Western civilization,” he said.
Hal Young is a contributing editor of Carolina Journal.
This article can be found online using the following link: http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=3571
|
| 6/23/2006 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge Grows in Impact Once Again |
| 6/9/2006 |
| |
Jesse Helms honored by North Carolina Republicans |
| 5/11/2006 |
| |
Eric Shawn Catalogues UN Problems at Helms Forum |
| 5/3/2006 |
| |
Helms Center Announces Laws of Life Essay Contest Winners |
| 3/24/2006 |
| |
Reform or re-form? |
| 1/5/2006 |
| |
Helms Center, Monterrey Tec and SELIDER Announce Joint Initiative Results |
| 12/12/2005 |
| |
Bono Dines With Jesse Helms |
| 11/30/2005 |
| |
Helms Urges Churches and Individuals to Help Fight AIDS in Africa |
| 11/19/2005 |
| |
Protecting Our Soldiers |
| 11/15/2005 |
| |
Ambassador Bolton Catalogues U.N. Problems |
| 11/1/2005 |
| |
UN Ambassador John Bolton to Give Fall Lecture |
| 10/12/2005 |
| |
FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin Speaks at Helms Forum |
| 9/26/2005 |
| |
Helms Center Announces Inaugural Helms Forum with FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin |
| 9/23/2005 |
| |
SALUTE TO SENATOR HELMS NIGHT TO REMEMBER |
| 9/6/2005 |
| |
Here's Where I Stand |
| 8/29/2005 |
| |
Retired Sen. Jesse Helms publishes memoir |
| 7/28/2005 |
| |
Join Conservative Leaders in a Salute to Jesse Helms on September 20 |
| 6/29/2005 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Conference A Success |
| 5/17/2005 |
| |
2005 Laws of Life Essay Contest Winners Announced |
| 4/30/2005 |
| |
LOST must lose |
| 3/3/2005 |
| |
Year One Review of Laws of Life in Mexico Shows Success |
| 1/31/2005 |
| |
The Jesse Helms Center Launches New Foreign Policy Program |
| 1/20/2005 |
| |
2005 Leadership Conference Dates Are Set! |
| 11/27/2004 |
| |
Helms Center Celebrates Ronald Reagan Legacy Day |
| 11/15/2004 |
| |
Helms Center Sponsors North Carolina Students to Attend APEC |
| 11/12/2004 |
| |
American Presidents Teacher Workshop A Success |
| 11/8/2004 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center Drop-off for Operation Christmas Child |
| 10/31/2004 |
| |
WHO Worsens AIDS Pandemic |
| 10/30/2004 |
| |
Helms Center President Speaks to Mexican Laws of Life Contest Participants |
| 10/22/2004 |
| |
Few Spaces Remain for US Presidents Teacher Workshop |
| 10/4/2004 |
| |
Helms Honored by Liberty University |
| 9/20/2004 |
| |
Transcript: Condoleezza Rice and Leadership Fellows Q&A |
| 9/12/2004 |
| |
Dr. Rice to Receive Nance Medal of Freedom |
| 8/11/2004 |
| |
Rice Lecture Tickets Hot Item – All Reserved Within Two Hours |
| 8/9/2004 |
| |
Condoleezza Rice to Speak |
| 7/29/2004 |
| |
Russians to visit Jesse Helms Center |
| 6/24/2004 |
| |
FELC - Going Strong After Ten Years |
| 6/9/2004 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center to close Friday in honor of President Ronald Reagan |
| 6/7/2004 |
| |
Senator Jesse Helms Releases Statement on Passing of President Ronald Reagan |
| 6/1/2004 |
| |
Jesse Helms Center Foundation teaches good business practices to students in Uruguay |
| 5/27/2004 |
| |
2004 Laws of Life Essay Winners Announced |
| 5/7/2004 |
| |
Chairman of Mexican Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Consults Helms |
| 3/16/2004 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Conference Comes To Queretaro |
| 3/15/2004 |
| |
Helms International Diplomacy Lecture Series |
| 1/23/2004 |
| |
Applications now available for the 2004 Free Enterprise Leadership Conference! |
| 1/22/2004 |
| |
Helms Center Hosts Eisenhower College Series |
| 1/12/2004 |
| |
Helms Center to Host National Security Experts |
| 10/28/2003 |
| |
Helms Center to Partner with Templeton Foundation in Mexico |
| 10/10/2003 |
| |
Capacity Crowd fills Helms Center for Teacher Workshop on the U.S. Constitution |
| 9/2/2003 |
| |
Bill of Rights Workshop for Teachers Announced! |
| 8/8/2003 |
| |
Teacher Workshop on the U.S. Constitution Announced! |
| 7/15/2003 |
| |
Nearly 200 Students Participate in Helms Center’s Leadership Conference |
| 6/9/2003 |
| |
Uruguay hosts Helms Center’s Leadership Conference |
| 5/23/2003 |
| |
2004 Leadership Conference Dates Are Set! |
| 4/21/2003 |
| |
Summer Leadership Conferences Near Capacity |
| 3/24/2003 |
| |
Leadership Conference returns to Monterrey, Mexico |
| 3/6/2003 |
| |
Space Still Available in Free Teacher Workshops! |
| 2/25/2003 |
| |
Helms Center to Host Campus Leadership Program's Student Publications Workshop |
| 2/11/2003 |
| |
2003 Free Enterprise Leadership Conference Applications Available |
| 1/29/2003 |
| |
Tickets Available for Schweizer Lecture on Ronald Reagan |
| 1/2/2003 |
| |
Helms Center to Host Schweizer in Lecture Series |
| 11/5/2002 |
| |
2003 Commemorative Calendar Now Available |
| 10/10/2002 |
| |
Teacher Workshop on Religion and Public Schools Announced |
| 9/25/2002 |
| |
NC Students Selected to Represent US at International Summit |
| 9/12/2002 |
| |
2003 Laws of Life Contest Announced |
| 9/10/2002 |
| |
The Helms Center remembers September 11th. |
| 8/21/2002 |
| |
Bill of Rights Workshop Announced |
| 7/30/2002 |
| |
The 2003 Leadership Conference Dates Are Announced. |
| 7/24/2002 |
| |
New Book on Jesse Helms' Legacy Now Available |
| 7/3/2002 |
| |
2002 FELC -- An Overwhelming Success! |
| 6/25/2002 |
| |
Helms Center Sponsors Schoolwide Character Education Program |
| 6/1/2002 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Conference at Wingate University at Full Capacity. |
| 5/15/2002 |
| |
2002 Laws of Life Winners Announced |
| 5/4/2002 |
| |
Free Enterprise Leadership Conference Goes International |
| 5/3/2002 |
| |
Newly Designed Website Goes "Live" |
