In 1975, Central Washington University President Dr. Jim Brooke proposed a simple idea: create a week-long 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 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 flip side: 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 came to Ellensburg, Washington, for a week-long summer camp. Little could Brooke or Wolfe imagine there now would be over 75,000 Business Week graduates. 

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

Business leaders who volunteered as company advisers found themselves receiving unexpected benefits from the program. For example, a quarter century ago, Dr. Jerry Cufley, a retired Kirkland physician, was introduced to Business Week while 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 says.  “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 adds.  “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 parents, wondering why they are there. By week’s end, students are overjoyed and don’t want to leave, says Tracey Turcotte, a former WBW program director and current WBW board member who works at Montana State University, Bozeman.               

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

“I learned what it meant for communities to come together to see youth thrive,” Adams says. “With ... 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 reinforces our entrepreneurial spirit — the same spirit that inspires Americans from all walks of life to dream, create, and innovate.   

Programs like Business Week reinforce our way of life. 

Don Brunell served as Association of Washington Business president for 26 years. He was a business company adviser at Central Washington University, Gonzaga University, University of Puget Sound, and Gdansk and Gdynia, Poland. His first year as a Business Week speaker and trade fair judge was 1980.