Business Students Benefit from Real-World Experiences

By using real loans, developing and selling real products and services and making real profits – all while still in college – Cedarville University School of Business Administration students are gaining skills that will help them make an immediate impact in the business world. 

Junior business majors at Cedarville University gain real-world business experience through a program called Integrated Business Core (IBC). IBC combines instruction on marketing, finance and management topics with the real-life experience of creating and marketing products and events, securing financing and managing an organization. 

“Business is one of those majors where classes only give you so much theoretical knowledge,” said this year’s IBC marketing director Daniel Cable, an information technology management major from Long Beach, California. “In today’s business climate, you need to learn how to work through mistakes, work with people and work with other business departments, and IBC provides a way for us to learn those things while we are still in college.” 

Since its inception in 2002, students in the IBC have borrowed and repaid more than $89,000, making $48,000 in profit. Students also learn to engage in the charitable side of business by donating all profits to an agreed-upon charitable organization and requiring 10 service hours of all of its members. The 600 students who have participated in the IBC since its inception have completed, in total, more than 6,300 hours of service. 

This year, IBC is working with two Dayton-area nonprofits, The Gospel Mission and Changing Lives Now, which help local poverty-stricken families and individuals. All profits will be donated between the organizations, and Cedarville students will volunteer 270 hours of their time to help the nonprofits accomplish their missions.

IBC’s first business venture of the year took place on Saturday, October 22, with its Ready-Set-Glow event, which included games like glow in the dark golf and bubble soccer, food trucks and a student-led comedy show. IBC also released shirts for Moonlight Madness, a basketball season kick-off event, as well as Bible-themed mugs.

Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 3,760 undergraduate, graduate, and online students in more than 100 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings, and leading student satisfaction ratings. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu.