The young entrepreneurs of the Hogan Program have embraced the challenge of raising money for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to China and India for a five-week study mission this summer. 

The students have scrubbed cars in the blazing heat and have walked around campus selling cookies, pastries, and popsicles to students and faculty members. The Hogan Program manages to pay for a majority of the expenses, but students still have to contribute to the cost of airfare, insurance, and visa. Each student needs more than $2,300, not including personal expenses. The money being raised will hopefully take a big chunk out of the amount each student’s needs.

Peter Cheng and Vina Cristobal, who both are seniors and members of the Hogan Program here at Chaminade, act as leaders for the fundraising group. They work alongside fellow Hogan students by scheduling weekly fundraising meetings on Wednesdays, planning and coordinating jobs for volunteers at each event, and managing the finances being raised.

“Although the Hogan Program pays for most of the trip, we still have to end up paying half as well,” Cheng said. “So any money coming in is very beneficial. … We need all the help we can get. The more help we get the less stress we have to face. In the end we are fundraising for ourselves.”

Besides fundraising, the students must also attend mandatory Wednesday night meetings, as well as submit a statement of candidacy explaining why the individual student deserves to go. This may seem like a tedious process for anyone who is juggling school and work, but to the students in the Hogan Program, this is a challenge any future entrepreneur would happily accept. 

The Hogan Program has been sending its students to China for the past 10 years. The China study mission offers internship opportunities for students to learn and shadow major companies and leading executives. Students also visit famous landmarks and popular cities in China such as, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The trip to India allows students to focus more on a variety of entrepreneurial companies ranging anywhere from big companies outsourcing billions of dollars, to smaller mom-and-pop type companies around Bangalore and Mumbai.

“The reason why we have this trip is to educate our students about entrepreneurs in both China and India,” said Ginger Miller, who is one of the Hogan Program assistants. “In order to do that, they have to actually go there for a couple of weeks. Finding out how companies work and why it’s so successful, and then bring back the information to the Hogan Program when they come back.”

This month the Hogan students are continuing the Friday fundraisers selling cookies, granola bars, juice, and other goodies for students and faculty. At the end of February the students will have another car wash, with others scheduled every month until May, all to raise money for this opportunity.