Point SPARK: Entrepreneurship Camp Inspires Curiosity and Creativity for High School Students

"The camp definitely piqued my interest in being an entrepreneur one day. All the activities, all the things I’ve learned – they're topics and concepts I didn’t know were so important. It's something I’m keeping my mind on in the future."

Kaitlin Pozo, junior, West Allegheny High School

Building a business plan, conceptualizing a product design, defining a target market, and making a successful pitch: High school students from throughout the greater Pittsburgh region explored many facets of entrepreneurship as they took part in Point SPARK: Entrepreneurship, a three-day summer camp designed to ignite students' entrepreneurial spirit and foster innovation.

Facilitated by Rowland School of Business faculty Dorene Ciletti, Sandra Mervosh and R. Hagen Starz, the camp featured hands-on activities and presentations in the Michael P. Pitterich Sales & Innovation Center and included lessons learned from faculty's experiences working in marketing and sales, HR management, business management and entrepreneurship and innovation. Sessions included:

Ideating and Pitching Your Startup
Identifying Your Customers
Business Ideation and Concept Development
Building a Business
Building Your Pitch and Selling Your Idea

Exploration, creativity and collaboration drove all of the camp's activities. For example, a session on divergent thinking challenged students to think up alternate uses for structures they built, like converting an airplane into an aerospace-themed store or mobile playground.

Students also enjoyed a tour of the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Point Park's performing arts theatre and learning lab, for a session on entrepreneurship and the arts, as well as a trip to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit community development organization, where students learned about supporting entrepreneurship and innovation through partnership. Students also toured Pioneer Records, Point Park's on-campus, student-run record label.

Students pose for a photo on the stage of the Pittsburgh Playhouse PNC Theatre. Photo by Dorene Ciletti. — Students toured the Pittsburgh Playhouse and learned about the intersection of entrepreneurship and the arts. Photo by Dorene Ciletti.

Several guest speakers also stopped by campus to share their entrepreneurial insights. Melinda Colaizzi, assistant professor of Sports, Arts, Entertainment & Music Business, shared her journey of starting and pitching Women Who Rock, an organization she founded to support life-saving women's health research and women in music. Point Park alumna Georgia Fowkes and her business partner, Jack Wardale presented a session on influencers and entrepreneurship based on their experience launching Elation, a content creation company.

Pictured are Georgia Fowkes and Jack Wardale, founders of Elation, during Point SPARK: Entrepreneurship camp. Photo by Nadia Jones. — Georgia Fowkes and Jack Wardale gave a presentation about conceptualizing and launching their content creation company, Elation. Photo by Nadia Jones '25.

"The guest speakers and staff were great," said Nicholas Orsatti, a senior at Central Catholic High School who also attended Point Park's Sports Business Camp. "They’re really friendly. We had one-on-one conversations, and there were a lot of opportunities that came out of this experience. In three days, I connected with a lot of people and I’m going to follow up on those connections and see what I can do for myself."

Orsatti, who is considering a career in the music industry, especially enjoyed the tour of Pioneer Records.

"I’ve always wanted to have my own business," he said. "Music is one of the fields I’m interested in, but that idea blossomed more as I delved into it."

At the end of the camp, students prepared PowerPoint presentations on the business concepts they developed throughout the week. Their pitches included:

Sidelines Sportswear & Promotions, an athletic gear retailer and manufacturer by Eli Amey and Ben Ward
Up-Fit, a customizable fitness training app by Ty Conner
SafePet, a tool for deterring pets from ingesting unsafe food or plants by Kaitlin Pozo
Powr Records, a full-service record label for independent artists by Nicholas Orsatti
The Grand Cuisine, an upscale restaurant by Russ Sarabekov

Pictured are Steve Tanzilli, Ty Conner, Dorene Ciletti and Sandra Mervosh. Photo by Nicole Chynoweth. — Each student received a certificate of completion at the end of the camp. Pictured are Rowland School of Business Dean Stephen Tanzilli, student Ty Conner, Dr. Dorene Ciletti and Professor Sandra Mervosh.

For Kaitlin Pozo, a junior at West Allegheny High School, the camp reignited her interest in business. Her favorite aspect of the camp was a scenario activity where students were "hired" to design a children's toothbrush that was better than that of their top competitor.

"The camp definitely piqued my interest in being an entrepreneur one day," she said. "All the activities, all the things I’ve learned – they're topics and concepts I didn’t know were so important. It's something I’m keeping my mind on in the future."

Nicole-Chynoweth_2024-SPARK-Entrepreneurship-Camp_IMG_0215_1000.jpg — Pictured are Professor Mervosh, Point SPARK: Entrepreneurship camp participants, Dr. Ciletti and Dean Tanzilli.