Chocolate University now accepting applications for 2020 program
An informational meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 11 for high school students interested in applying for Chocolate University Summer 2020 program. The meeting will be held at Askinosie Chocolate, 514 E. Commercial St.
Askinosie Chocolate and Drury University partner to offer this unique learning opportunity to Springfield area high school students who will graduate in 2020 or 2021. Applications information is available at chocolateuniversity.org. The deadline to apply is Sept. 30.
The Chocolate University high school program seeks to inspire young students to become global thinkers and to realize small businesses can offer solutions to the world’s problems through an experiential program involving small business entrepreneurship, direct trade in the international cocoa industry, community development work, and exploration of students’ plans and goals.
The program culminates with a week spent on the Drury University campus full of courses on leadership, Tanzanian culture, craft chocolate, and international business. The students then embark on an international business trip with Shawn Askinosie, founder and CEO of Askinosie Chocolate, company leaders and Drury University faculty, to remote southwestern Tanzania, where the company sources cocoa beans and has partnerships with a cocoa farmer group, village, and schools. The students are immersed in rich Tanzanian culture and are present for international business transactions.
Members of high school classes graduating in 2020 or 2021 and residing or attending school in Greene or Christian County may apply. The online application process includes an essay and recommendation letters, from which a narrowed pool of applicants are chosen for in-person interviews.
The 2020 trip will be Askinosie Chocolate’s sixth Chocolate University class, having brought students to Tanzania in alternating years since 2010. The class of 2020 will be comprised of 14 students - half of which will receive full scholarships, funded by generous donors to Chocolate University.
Visit chocolateuniversity.org for more program information or click here for details about the Sept. 11 information meeting.