Missouri Southern to host a Business Gateway event for area high school students

Joplin, MO – The Plaster School of Business will host the Business Gateway – a business competition and workshop event for area high-school students – on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at Missouri Southern State University.

A total of 385 students from 20 schools will participate in the event, said Dr. Becky Burink, assistant professor of management and coordinator of the Business Gateway.

“This is an event the Plaster School of Business hosted for years but it was retired several years ago,” said Burink. “There will be different competitive events, presentations, and workshops presented by Career Services and the Global Leaders program. We’re excited to bring this event back, and our goal is to bring developmental and recruitment aspects to it as well as the competition. We want to introduce students to what the Plaster School of Business has to offer and give them a taste of what Missouri Southern is about.”

Events and workshops will run from 9 a.m. to noon in Plaster Hall, followed by an awards ceremony at 1 p.m. in Young Gymnasium. The competition will include individual and team-based events in categories such as social media, website design, accounting, finance, data analytics, tourism, business communication, and more.

Organizers have coordinated with the university’s Campus Vibrancy Committee to offer Food Truck Tuesday on the Oval that day.

Participating schools include:

Billings High School, Carl Junction High School, Carthage Technical Center, Everton School, Exeter High School, Girard High School, Gravette High School, Greenfield High School, Lamar Career & Technical Center, Liberal R-2 High School, Lockwood High School, McAuley Catholic High School, Mt. Vernon High School, Neosho High School, Purdy High School, Riverton High School, Sarcoxie High School, Southeast – Cherokee (USD 247), Saint Paul High School, and Wheaton High School.