AACC students are running businesses on the side, offering everything from tours of Costa Rica to handmade jewelry and sports attire.
The students are part of AACC’s entrepreneurial program, which trains future business owners and offers them scholarships.
“It’s really awesome, actually,” Matthew Lewis, a third-year business administration student, said. “I’m part of the Ratcliffe Scholarship here, which is an entrepreneurship scholarship. And it’s an awesome community of young entrepreneurs like myself, being able to build off one-on-one with one another [and] learn the problems that they face.”
One student business owner, Lucas Panzer-Valdivia, opened a business, Amanecer Tours, which offers tours to Costa Rica.
Panzer-Valdivia, a second-year entrepreneurial studies student, said he arranges tours to Costa Rica, where travelers can zipline, hike and birdwatch in the rainforest.
“We’ll go to a chocolate tour and they’ll show us a lot of the culture of the chocolate and then we get to swim in a waterfall around there,” Panzer-Valdivia, who was born in Costa Rica, said.
Panzer-Valdivia conducts eight- to 10-day tours for up to 12 people. His first tour was in July for 12 tourists.
“It was amazing,” Panzer-Valdivia said. “Some high schoolers and a coworker of mine went. They had a blast.”
Another student makes and sells her own jewelry.
Cameron Hanley created an online store, Cameron’s Shop, to sell handcrafted accessories.
Hanley, a second-year entrepreneurial studies student, has always crafted, so decided to make it into a business during the pandemic.
“I needed some extra money … and I had been making jewelry recently,” Hanley said. “And I was like, ‘You know what, I could sell this stuff.’”
Hanley said the jewelry Cameron’s Shop sells is much cheaper than larger businesses’ products.
“I feel like a lot of big businesses overcharge,” Hanley said. “I know a lot of people can’t afford that. I can’t afford that. So sometimes I see something cool and I’m like, ‘I could make that better.’”
Hanley has sold 106 pieces of jewelry this year, for $20 apiece.
Another student entrepreneur, Zachary Lawrence, created a line of streetwear, LawVille Clothing, which he sells on his website.
Lawrence, a second-year entrepreneurial studies student, said he began his company with a “print on demand” system. With print on demand, he designs the patterns, but a different company produces the apparel.
“That’s a good way to start if you don’t have that much money because you only pay when somebody buys,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence sells T-shirts, sweaters and hoodies for $30 to $40, and expects to make $10,000 by year’s end.
“I know I have a successful mindset,” Lawrence said, “but others don’t know the potential they have. So I always say I’m on top of the world and I want people to realize it’s their world, too.”
Lawrence said he wants his company to make people feel more confident.
“I need … to get them to believe in themselves,” Lawrence said. “I believe in them.”