Digital Corps Creates Documentary for Award-Winning Entrepreneurship Center

Imagine the success of your entire college career hinging on one final presentation. At the Ball State Entrepreneurship Center, that is just the case. For the last leg of their four-year journey at Ball State, students in the entrepreneurship program have one year to build a strong business plan and pitch their ideas to a board of alumni and investors. Internally, the event is known as the “Senior Sweat”. A thumbs-up from the judges means the student goes on to graduate whereas a thumbs-down and the student has to retake their senior year.

Matt Marvel, the director of the Entrepreneurship Center, commissioned the Digital Corps to create a short documentary showcasing the program’s students and their journey during senior year.

The Entrepreneurship Center at Ball State was recently recognized by the Princeton Review as one of the Top 20 Entrepreneurship Centers in the country. For the last 35 years, as the program has been properly preparing its students for the realities of the business world.

“We were an early pioneer in entrepreneurship education, and continue to be one of the most rigorous programs in the nation with the capstone class, where students defend a comprehensive business plan before a panel of executives and alumni entrepreneurs,” said Marvel in an interview with the Muncie Journal.

This year, the senior class for the Entrepreneurship Center enrolled 12 students. The documentary that Marvel commissioned the Digital Corps to create has followed six of the 12 students since the beginning of the semester. Micah Holtgraves, a graduate assistant with the Digital Corps, has worked as the junior project manager on the documentary. His role oversees the progress of the year-long project.

Throughout the semester, Holtgraves has learned more about the entrepreneurship program and the business world as a whole. He learned about the idea generation process and the implications that come with deciding to start over. In this case, students must brainstorm new ideas, draft a new business plan, and prepare another pitch presentation for the next judges panel.

“It’s just cool to have a year-long project that you can follow specific people over the course of the year and see how they change,” said Micah. “Even some of the students have changed their ideas and their entire project from when we first interviewed them.”

Secretly, Holtgraves is hoping some of the students in the program fail! He insists that he has no personal vendetta against the young entrepreneurs, but thinks it would make the short documentary feel more authentic.

This opportunity allows Holtgraves to work with several different Digital Corps members. The length of the project has provides an opportunity for different students to practice their skills and get a piece of the project. Interviewing, editing, and motion graphics creation will continue out the course of the school year until the program is finished.

Students within the entrepreneurship program will participate in E-Day in April 2018. The event is packed with final pitches and final decisions. The Digital Corps will document the event and conclude the story of the six featured students they have been following throughout the year. Once completed, the documentary will be available on the Entrepreneurship Center social media and related sites they may utilize.

In the meantime, watch the the Entrepreneurship Center Documentary trailer!