Camp $tart-Up‚, a new program held at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University this July 20-27, will offer 17- to 19-year-old women some of the skills they'll need to pursue careers in business or run their own small enterprises.

Limited to 30 participants, the program combines teaching essentials of business and entrepreneurship with fun activities that help empower young women to take charge of their lives, both in school and in business, and achieve self-confidence and economic self-reliance.

The Camp $tart-Up program offers lessons in leadership skills, networking, business-plan building, even LPGA golf lessons – in short, a taste of everything participants will need to succeed in business-related endeavors later on. The camp's counselors are all women who are current MBA students at the Johnson School and elsewhere and have experience in the business world. Organizers hope to enroll more young women from the local area.

Developed by Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Independent Means, the program introduces young women to the fundamentals and vocabulary of business. Participants in Camp $tart-Up at Cornell's Johnson School will develop and present business plans based on their own business ideas, visit women-owned companies in the Ithaca area and learn business etiquette and how to present themselves professionally and make the most of networking opportunities.

"Camp $tart-Up is interactive, experiential and encourages relationship building among young women and experienced business people," said Diane Fleck, one of the student organizers.

"Participants leave with a better appreciation of their own skills and abilities," said Joline Godfrey, CEO of Independent Means and founder of the national Camp $tart-Up program. "They also acquire a Rolodex full of names and addresses of new friends and new contacts – many who will open doors for them as they begin to develop their professional lives."

Camp $tart-Up is a Park Leadership Service project at the Johnson School at Cornell. Program tuition is $1,200; many scholarships are available. Sponsors are American Express, Johnson & Johnson, Playtex, and Sprint. Call (607) 255-1437 or see http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/owmb/campstartup/.