Giant Campus Blog

Check this out parents! Does your high school student have a knack for marketing or wish to start a business? Our marketing and entrepreneurship classes combined with DECA is a great way for your teen to prepare for the future – college or career! We’re now offering Emerging Leader Scholarships to qualifying students who are interested in taking their business skills to the next level.

Giant Campus Emerging Leader Scholarships (Fall 2010)
Scholarship Deadline – September 17, 2010

DECA Scholarship includes:
-One full year (value $750) of Marketing (I & II) or Entrepreneurship (I & II) class – Giant Campus Academy
-DECA membership (value $18)
-Class Transcript – for high school resume & college admittance

To qualify, students:
-Must take one year of Marketing or Entrepreneurship classes
-Must agree to be an active contributor in our online DECA chapter
-Current high school does not have a DECA chapter

Call an Enrollment Advisor by September 17, 2010 – 888.904.2267

DECA members can begin their experience as early as the ninth grade by enrolling in a marketing or entrepreneurship course. They can retain their membership in DECA as long as they are actively pursuing courses in one of the content areas. As part of a high school chapter, DECA members can take full advantage of DECA activities while preparing themselves to be college and career ready upon graduation.
By leveraging their DECA membership, members can become:
-Academically prepared for college and careers in marketing, finance, hospitality or management
community oriented by gaining an appreciation for the benefits of service and their potential impact on the community and world
-Professionally responsible with ethics, integrity and high standards
-Experienced leaders by practicing key leadership skills such as goal setting, consensus building and project management.

Learn more about DECA here

DECA Picks Giant Campus for First Ever Online High School Chapter
2009 Washington DECA Advisor of Year to be Giant Campus’s DECA advisor

SEATTLE — August 17, 2010 — Giant Campus (www.giantcampus.com), a nationally recognized leader in innovative technology, marketing and business education programs for youth and adults, today announced that it has formed the first online DECA chapter in coordination with Washington DECA. DECA is a student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

“Giant Campus is a perfect partner because it’s located right in our backyard in Seattle, is one of the leading online learning companies and has been preparing students for business-related careers since 1997,” said Washington DECA Executive Director Shanna LaMar. “We recognize that business no longer takes place entirely in-person and that’s why we’ve decided to launch this first- of-its-kind chapter, where students from all over Washington State can collaborate through a mix of virtual and in-person meetings.”

By being part of Washington DECA, Giant Campus’s marketing and entrepreneurship students will have the opportunity to participate in DECA competitions and events worldwide. As part of the program, students will operate their own online store, and will work in teams to create and present business and marketing plans at competitions. Lori Jacobs, the 2009 Washington DECA Advisor of the Year and a business and marketing education teacher at Auburn High School, will guide Giant Campus chapter participants through each of these competitions and events in her role as Giant Campus DECA advisor.

“I’m looking forward to helping launch a chapter which promises to change how our young business leaders learn life-long skills,” said Jacobs. “With the Giant Campus chapter, the barriers of geography, and a dedicated advisor are gone. Students in rural and metropolitan areas, and in private and public schools will have a platform to share ideas on a daily basis.”

Membership is open to all Washington State high school students who meet DECA membership requirements, do not attend a school with a DECA chapter and enroll in one of Giant Campus’ business courses. For fall, students taking Introduction to Entrepreneurship or Introduction to Marketing are eligible to join the online chapter.

“Being handpicked by DECA to launch this online chapter is an honor,” said Giant Campus Founder and CEO Pete Findley. “At Giant Campus, we are committed to providing a robust business and marketing curriculum for our students, and DECA membership is a key element to our program.”

Introducing five new online high school classes focused on technology and business innovation and one of them will involve green design and technology — the only online class of its kind! Read more about our new classes and how educational organizations can license for this fall! View the class videos here.

Ever wanted to learn what it takes to launch your own business and become a successful entrepreneur? Well, learn how our Introduction to Entrepreneurship course (NEW for Spring 2010) can develop the core skills you’ll need to be successful! Check out the video below:

Learn all about Giant Campus of Washington and meet the people behind our school!

Since our school launch last week our Enrollment Advisors have had the great opportunity to talk with about 150 high school teens at a local private high school. The response from students and teachers has been incredible!

Many students are interested and have signed-up for the classes that best suit their interests. The below video was played during our time at the school, and it sparked the students and got them really excited about our new class, Computer Aided Design (CAD). Check it out!

The private school’s teachers are working fast on making our spring classes available to the students. The DECA / Marketing teacher is nuts about our program and is currently working on offering our classes during a period or more of school, making the classes easily available to all the students. Our Entrepreneurship class is great for students interested in DECA and marketing! The web design teacher is signing up the entire class for our web design class, to help advance interested students along with dedicated expert instruction.

This is just a quick example of how one school is realizing the complementary educational opportunities with online learning. We look forward to working with more schools in offering valuable technology classes to students across the state!

Our curriculum team is including an exciting new element in our courses called Career Connections. These Career Connection features are short interviews with successful professionals in the field.

The new Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Introduction to Entrepreneurship I courses launching this spring will be the first courses to include this new feature.

Career Connections give students a sense of how the course’s skills are used in the workplace.

Professionals from a variety of careers in the industry help to show the various career options available in this field.

For example, the CAD course features interviews with an architect, an interior designer, a landscape architect, and two engineers.

The Introduction to Entrepreneurship I course features interviews with outstanding young people who became entrepreneurs as teens (or even younger!) in a variety of fields.

Featured entrepreneurs include:

• 15-year-old Lani Lazzari of Simple Sugars (www.simplesugarsscrub.com)
• 17-year-old Web entrepreneur Donny Ouyang of Kinkarso Tech Ltd. (www.kinkarso.com)
• 19-year-old Jessica Cervantes of Popsy Cakes (www.popsycakes.com)
• 22-year-old men’s fashion designer Baruch Shemtov (www.baruchshemtov.com)
• 25-year-old Andrew Mohebbi, who created a successful paintball review Web site as a teen and then sold it

Watch for Career Connection features in these and other new Giant Campus courses!