Senior David Van Note recently won a scholarship worth one semester’s tuition for the business plan he created during a seminar titled “How to Start and Manage a Small Business.”
The Twardzik Business Seminar Scholarship is awarded to the student who develops the most deserving business plan during the seminar. Van Note’s plan was for a brewery based in his hometown of Kent, Ohio, to be called Burning River Brewery. Van Note said he will someday make that plan a reality.
“Starting a brewery is hopefully something I can do at some point in my life,” Van Note said. “It’s not something I want to do right out of college, but when I believe the opportunity presents itself, I’d like to take that chance.”
The seminar is a five-day, three-credit class that combines instruction with the practical experience of developing a business plan. Over the five days, six different instructors taught students about small business marketing, management, business law, human resources, and finance. After the day’s instruction, students spent the rest of the day developing the aspect of their business plan that corresponded to what they learned that day.
While Van Note is an accounting major, Susan King, professor of marketing and director of the seminar, said students do not need to be studying anything related to business to take the seminar and compete for the scholarship.
“This year, I think we only had two business majors in the seminar. Most of our enrollment is from the other majors, which is wonderful,” King said. “It’s so heartening to see classical liberal arts majors interested in this entrepreneurship program.”
Students had several weeks to refine their business plan after the seminar before making a final presentation. King said the extra work Van Note did over break allowed him to set his project apart.
“At the end of the five days, the students hand in what they worked on for those five days. That is like the skeleton. Over break they build upon that and when they come back, they hand in the final project,” King said. “You could tell David took additional time, he used additional resources, and he talked to experts.”
The extra time manifested itself in a 61-page report, complete with sample bottle labels, detailed expense projections, weekly revenue projections, and an analysis of risk.
The professors that instruct the classes also judge the final projects. The professors narrow the choice down to three projects, but King and Rich Moeggenberg, the director of financial aid, decide who wins the scholarship.
The scholarship is funded by the Twardzik Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Endowment, which was created by Theodore Twardzik and his wife Jean Twardzik. Theodore Twardzik was an entrepreneur himself. He began his business career by selling pierogies made by his mom to local stores. Twardzik decided to expand and founded Mrs. T’s Pierogies, a mass market brand found in stores like Walmart. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 89. Van Note was presented the award during the parent’s weekend honors ceremony by Tim Twardzik, the son of Theodore Twardzik.
Hillsdale Brewing Company, a local brewery similar to the one Van Note proposes opening in his business plan, opened its doors this spring after almost three years of well-documented struggle. Van Note said he has been observing that process and trying to learn from it.
“The fact that they have been able to put something together has influenced me and made me believe that I have a chance,” Van Note said. “I think the market I would build mine in would be significantly bigger than Hillsdale, and for them to show signs of success is pretty neat. I’ve read a decent amount of sources that say ‘It’ll take twice as long to set up and take twice the amount of capital as you anticipate.’ I haven’t talked to Hillsdale Brewing directly, but I have observed that, and that knowledge went into a lot of different parts of my project.”