There are many great opportunities like receiving a grant for a small business at Lethbridge Polytechnic that can be helpful to current and recently former students with their future.
One of the many great opportunities is an extracurricular program called AgENT. The program name stands for Agricultural Entrepreneurship and is for both part-time and full-time students. Despite its name it’s available in all programs including the trades and recent alumni to help them with their entrepreneurial skills, along with solving real world challenges by creating a business idea from it.
AgENT has many great opportunities throughout the year that students can take part in as it holds workshops that help students build many different skills in many fun and creative tasks.
“The AgENT program is really just about building those skills and how to start a business, but through the lens of solving problems in our world,” said Joshua Lieth. Lieth is the AgENT program coordinator, as well as a former student who took the program.
AgENT has given many students the ability to learn many things such as learning how to sell a product to someone who might not understand what it is. This is one example of building the communication skills needed. It also provides students with a lot of great skills to showcase on their resumes.
Although from a teacher perspective of AgENT, Natalie Barfuss, who teaches in the business program with the second-year students in Advanced Small Business Management, she takes her students at the beginning of her class to AgENT to let them know all about AgENT.
“If I have anyone in class who is an entrepreneur planning to build a business that is their dream, the AgENT program is an amazing, fit for them,” said Barfuss.
AgENT has many opportunities that can help students make their businesses come true, especially when someone is wondering how to start or how they can get the money to start. AgENT gives students a chance by providing a grant for their startup or prototypes, by filling out an application.
Daneilla Wintrip is a current student in AgENT along with her being in business administration in her final year. Wintrip joined AgENT back in her first semester when she came back to school to learn to start a business, and solve some problems that she wanted to solve in the community. She finds AgENT is a good opportunity to learn how to do that better and meet other people with similar goals.
“I mean, first of all, there’s free food. Who doesn’t love free food as a student?” said Wintrip when encouraging other students who are not sure about joining AgENT. “But there’s like some of the events are just for networking or playing games and like bonding with other students,” she added.
Free food at AgENT events is one of the few perks, but the skills that are gained can be added to someone’s resume, and the opportunity that it gives students is what makes AgENT a great program for everyone at the polytechnic.
“Take advantage of everything that it(AgENT) can give you because once you get into the real workforce, it kind of sucks,” said Lieth for future students of AgENT or students who are still questioning if they should join.
