Over a dozen students are working in “Obi-Won Town” while spending their “Star bucks” on the Williston State College campus this week.

The WSC cafeteria is a mini-society with youth operating a government with businesses, items to sell and their own currency. This is all part of the first Mini-Society Entrepreneurship Summer Camp that concludes today.

Barry Striegel is director of the Youth Entrepreneurship Education Project and works in the Center for Innovation at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Striegel is leading this week’s mini-society at WSC, along with a handful of teachers and facilitators who are helping the youngsters.

Striegel said the camp is going very well, starting on Monday by naming their town, currency and sorting out jobs for everyone. “Obi-Won Town,” named after the character from Star Wars, was chosen, along with a currency called “Star bucks.”

He said the students started their businesses, made adjustments when necessary and even tried to expand their businesses like in real life. “These kids have completely understood all these things as they’ve come up. They’ll be able to use these experiences in the future,” said Striegel.

Striegel said the conversations during their town hall meetings are a really great thing to see. The students were running low on money Tuesday, so they had a meeting where they discussed options on how to stay afloat.

One young girl proposed the idea of printing more money which made for a great lesson about inflation. Eventually they voted for a slight tax increase to keep things going.

“They’re going to take away lessons about entrepreneurship, democracy and business from this. We have meetings and periodic breaks to go over what they’ve done. They’ll be able to use these experiences to reinforce what they’ve learned,” said Striegel.

The mood among the kids was very positive and they were having a lot of fun working and keeping their various businesses running. One of the students having a lot of fun was Bria Goldade, 10.

Goldade is a student at Williston’s Rickard Elementary School and got into the program after her mother asked her if she wanted to. She said yes and is glad she did.

“It’s really fun, being able to do your business and not having them try to tell you what to do the whole time,” said Goldade.

Goldade is running a stand selling brownies and treats called Kwick Snacks, which is allowing her to make a lot of Star bucks.

“But I don’t really care how much I make,” she added.

Katherine Fearing, 9, and Alleah MacSteves, 8, also are enjoying their businesses.. The two of them and Fearing’s twin sister, Lauren partnered to run a business selling stones, beads and bracelets. MacSteves said the three of them are friends from Rickard Elementary, so they decided to go into business together.

“It’s just fun, they can pick their own rocks or whatever,” said MacSteves.

Katherine Fearing said they had changed their business after selling popcorn earlier in the week.

“They got tired of popcorn,” said Fearing, referring to the other students. “Plus someone else was selling it, too.”

Valerie Goldade, young Bria’s mother, is a third grade teacher at Rickard Elementary who is participating in the week’s events. She is selling wallets to the students and is helping them when they need something. Goldade also is receiving college credit for participating in the event, which is a nice perk.

“I’m thinking of implementing this into my classroom next year,” said Goldade.

Goldade wants to learn how it’s done so she knows how to organize it in her classroom. She said helping the students is fun, as is seeing them learn about important topics like business and local government.

Meanwhile, Hillary Wood is an adult student from New York who is finishing her master’s studies. She got involved when she found an advertisement on University of North Dakota Web site and decided to contact Striegel.

Wood said her favorite part of the camp is seeing the youngsters having fun learning the business and government process.

“It’s such an excellent way for them to learn,” said Wood.

One of the facilitators at the event was Cierra Aamodt. Aamodt works in the after-school programs at Williston’s St. Joesph’s Catholic School and got involved when Maeve MacSteves, entrepreneurship coordinator at WSC, asked if she wanted some summer work. Aamodt is selling key chains.

“I think it’s a lot of fun for the kids and they seem to really enjoy it. They’re in charge and it teaches them a bit about life,” said Aamodt.