By Aleasha Sandley

The Herald Bulletin

ANDERSON — Twelve aspiring entrepreneurs descended upon Anderson University’s campus last week hoping to create the perfect product pitch.

They spent hours planning, filming and editing one-minute infomercials for their product and mingling with other entrepreneurs who had already established their own companies and products.

The 12 business-minded people spent nearly three days immersed in the business world, but, as high school juniors and seniors, they still have plenty of time to come up with their own entrepreneurship dreams.

The students attended AU’s business summer camp put on by the Falls School of Business and Students in Free Enterprise. The camp allowed them to meet Anderson entrepreneurs, tour their facilities and practice making pitches.

The finale event was an infomercial competition in which students pitched No Dirty Talk, an antimicrobial cell phone cleaner created by Elwood company Saf-T-Aid.

“We really like the idea of getting them involved and doing something real,” AU Associate Professor Greg Heberling said. “We don’t just have them write a business plan, we have them start their own business.”

Highland High School junior Kristin Dulaney’s favorite part of the camp was making elevator pitches, in which students took an idea and had a limited amount of time to come up with 60-second or five-minute pitches.

“You have to come up with your own product that you want to try to get investors to invest in,” she said.

Students learned skills in the camp that others wouldn’t be exposed to until they took college-level business and entrepreneurship courses, Dulaney, 16, said.

“I went in not knowing a ton about entrepreneurship,” she said. “I knew I liked business, but I didn’t know a ton about it. I really learned a lot more about business and entrepreneurship and the many things that can be done with that.”

Dulaney plans to double-major in college and expects one of her majors to be business-related.

Saf-T-Aid President Allen Traylor said the students’ infomercials for No Dirty Talk were creative and helpful for his business.

“They were all great, all creative, all with a little different flavor,” he said.