In 1975, Central Washington University then-president Jim Brooke proposed a simple idea: create a weeklong summer camp at CWU to introduce high school students to the nation’s free-enterprise system while rubbing shoulders with leaders who own and run businesses.

Brooke’s team developed a computer simulation – the operating system for Washington Business Week. It became the blueprint for a startup business which would be educational, bonding and fun. It worked like magic. Students came from different backgrounds and became ferocious competitors and friends.

The flipside: It was also magical for business leaders. We also developed friendships and got a glimpse of those entering the workforce.

Yelm grocer and state legislator Hal Wolfe, who chaired the Association of Washington Business board, pitched the idea to the organization. In 1976, business leaders put up the necessary funds, and 225 students traveled to Ellenburg for a weeklong summer camp. Little could Brooke or Wolfe imagine there now would be over 75,000 Business Week graduates.

The program eventually reached 26 states and other countries, including Poland. Today, the program is now hosted by Renton Technical College, Eastern Washington University and University of Puget Sound.

Interestingly, business leaders who volunteered as company advisors found themselves receiving unexpected benefits from the program. For example, a quarter century ago, Dr. Jerry Cufley, a retired Kirkland physician, was introduced to it while working as medical director for First Choice Health Care Network.

“I didn’t know how comfortable I would be standing in front of an audience let alone 250 high school students and adults,” Cufley said. “I learned a lot about myself and found out that I still enjoy learning about myself.”

During the early years, teachers took part in their own group or company. But as the years progressed, teachers became company advisers along with the hundreds of business leader volunteers from large and small firms.

For example, Carey Doyle, an eighth-grade science teacher at Shahala Middle School in Vancouver, was an adviser at the Gonzaga University and Poland programs. Her take is teachers learn from business leaders and the business leaders learn from teachers.

“We work with teenagers every day in the classrooms, but we seldom have contact with the people who will be employing the young people we educate,” Doyle said. “Business Week brings us together to learn, have fun and have a real-life experience.”

Over the years, the program has been called transformational.

Often young people who come to Business Week are dropped off by their folks wondering why they are there. By week’s end students are overjoyed and don’t want to leave, said Tracey Turcotte, a former Business Week program director, who is a board member who works at Montana State University, Bozeman.

Business Week set up in-school programs in local schools. Harmony Adams, a 2025 high school student, attended the Hoquiam High program before enrolling in the summer program.

“I learned what it meant for communities to come together to see youth thrive,” Adams said. “With over 50-plus volunteers in action, it made my heart swell for Grays Harbor. I also learned how to work as a team in a professional setting, collaborating with people I normally didn’t interact with.”

Business Week continues to be a privately-funded program. Its money comes from large, medium and small businesses, service clubs, foundations and individuals.

It is reinforces our entrepreneurial spirit – the same spirit that inspires Americans from all walks of life to dream, create and innovate.

Don Brunell served as Association of Washington Business president for 26 years. He was a business company advisor at Central Washington, Gonzaga and University of Puget Sound, and also in Poland.