Whether it’s the life-changing discovery of penicillin or X-rays, or the first chocolate chip cookies, innovation often happens by accident. In Leah Busque’s case, genius struck overnight — a “cold winter night in Boston,” to be exact.

“My husband and I were just about to go out to dinner when I realized we were out of dog food for our one hundred-pound yellow Lab,” remembers Busque, who graduated from Sweet Briar in 2001 with a degree in math and computer science.

“I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place online where you could go, say you needed dog food, and name the price you were willing to pay?’ I was sure there was someone in my neighborhood who would be willing to help us out.”

Busque immediately bought the domain runmyerrand.com. Within four months, she quit her job at IBM, where she had been a programmer for seven years, to work on the website full time. The company soon moved to San Francisco, and Busque never looked back.

Five years later, what is now TaskRabbit.com has raised nearly $40 million in capital from investors such as Shasta Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures and Founders Fund, and inspired numerous startups to launch in the collaborative and service networking space. The company employs more than 60 software engineers, designers and other professionals, as well as thousands of pre-screened “runners” who bid against each other to perform delivery, house cleaning and other odd jobs in cities across America.

So how does one become an entrepreneur?

“Don’t overthink it, just go for it,” Busque says, noting that the support she received from investors and employees early on was a key factor in her success.

“One of my first advisors, [Zipcar CEO] Scott Griffith, told me something when I first pitched my idea for TaskRabbit to him. … His advice was simple. He said: ‘Leah, I think you are on to something. I think you should see how far you can take it.’ ”

Griffith’s comment has stuck with her to this day. Still a young CEO herself, Busque is now offering the same advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and college graduates. The key to success, she says, is pursuing one’s dream one small goal at a time.

Busque and her Labrador Kobe pose during a stop en route from Boston to San Francisco.

“I encourage all people to do the same — whether they are starting their own business or launching their own career in math or technology. Taking small steps every day towards your goal has proved an effective strategy for me. Every day, I wake up and see how far I can take TaskRabbit in the next twenty-four hours.”

Busque’s strategy hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2012, Fast Company named her one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business,” and she has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Wired and Time magazine, among others. TaskRabbit was named a finalist in the Crunchies and Mashable Awards and was deemed “The Next Big Thing in Tech” by the New York Times. A few months ago, ABC’s Katie Couric tested the service on her show by becoming a runner herself.

Despite all the recent fame, Busque has stayed grounded, and she comes back east often to reconnect with family, friends and even professors. Sweet Briar math professor Bessie Kirkwood was glad to see her during her visit for the Salt Block Project Awards Dinner hosted by the College’s business department in October, where Busque was named Entrepreneur of the Year.

To Kirkwood, Busque is in many ways still the same young woman from New England — “bright” and “cheerful,” and a natural leader.

“She was SGA president her senior year. I remember hearing her speak at a meeting of the board; she was very poised and articulate,” Kirkwood recalls, adding that Busque’s success isn’t a huge surprise.

“Knowing what good people skills Leah had as a student, her ability to network isn’t surprising,” she says. “I expected that Leah would be quite successful working in computer science. It didn’t cross my mind that she would become an entrepreneur.”

Leah Busque with Hilary Cook ’05 (left) and math professors Jim and Bessie Kirkwood during the Salt Block Project Awards Dinner in October.

Naturally, it has been exciting for Kirkwood to witness how far Busque has come since she left Sweet Briar more than a decade ago.

“It has been a pleasure to see how she has identified the challenges, mastered so many aspects of business, excelled at making connections with people, and been a rousing success.”

Kirkwood’s continued engagement in Busque’s career is nothing unusual at Sweet Briar, where interaction between students and faculty is high, and professors often maintain an interest in students long beyond graduation.

And why wouldn’t they? Busque, as so many alumnae before her, knows that part of the foundation for her success was laid at the small liberal arts college — the other in high school, when math teacher Sarah Sabatini inspired her to pursue a science degree.

“My time at Sweet Briar, both inside and outside of the classroom, was tremendously empowering,” she remembers. “I felt a constant sense of camaraderie, surrounded by intelligent, determined and engaging people.”

While the fact that it was a women’s college didn’t matter to Busque, she says it enabled her to look beyond the constraints of gender — a philosophy that has stuck with her throughout life.

“My gender has never played a role in my career; I never viewed it as an advantage or disadvantage. I was never a female engineer; I was simply an engineer. I was never a female founder; I was simply a founder,” she says.

“My time at Sweet Briar has been instrumental in the development of that mentality — that gender does not play a role in my career choices and that if I want to accomplish something, that I should go after it. At Sweet Briar, I was constantly surrounded by smart, ambitious and career-oriented women who were determined to pursue their dreams, irrespective of their gender. I naturally took the same approach.”

In fact, the odds that she would attend Sweet Briar at all were slim. It wasn’t just the only women’s college she applied to; it was also the only school outside of New England.

“I remember when I got accepted, my mom and I decided to make the long drive from Shirley [Mass.] to visit the campus for accepted students weekend. As soon as the car hit school grounds, I fell in love with the striking beauty that makes up Sweet Briar’s gorgeous campus,” Busque recalls.

“It was exactly what I wanted my college experience to be like.”

To watch an in-depth interview with Busque, click here.

— Janika Carey

Bob Vosburgh (from left), Marti Beller, Kaitlyn Haskins ’15, Jenness Gough ’13, Victoria Mills ’13, Tom Scott, Leah Busque, Tom Loftus and Jo Ellen Parker. The students, including Hunter Stoner ’14,
who is not pictured, organized the Salt Block Awards and dinner.

The Salt Block Project, a student-run initiative of Sweet Briar’s business department, hosted its second Entrepreneurship Awards Dinner Thursday, Oct. 11, in Prothro Dining Room. Jenness Gough ’13 handed out the “Salty Awards,” as they are informally known, to recognize recipients in three categories.

Past Saltys have honored local business leaders, but in keeping with this year’s “Experience to Innovation” theme, students selected individuals whose personal and professional experience led to the creation of a new and impactful product.

The first was Marti Beller, CEO and co-founder of PlanG, who received the Salt Block Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Nonprofit Organizations. PlanG aims to revolutionize charitable giving with an online product that lowers the cost of fundraising for 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S., offers businesses a new way to incentivize customer loyalty, and makes giving easier and more meaningful for individual donors.

Bob Vosburgh was recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year for Health Care for his company’s development of Survey Vitals, a proprietary electronic feedback survey with the potential to transform patient and doctor experiences through organizational improvement. A former Air Force fighter pilot and aeronautical engineer, Vosburgh is founder and president of 9g Enterprises.

Hilary Cook ’05, director of strategic partnerships at PlanG, talks about why she wanted to involve Sweet Briar in her company’s social media strategy.

The third Salty, for overall Entrepreneur of the Year, went to Leah Busque, a 2001 Sweet Briar computer science graduate. In 2008, Busque gave up a cushy job programming at IBM to start TaskRabbit Inc. — all because she didn’t want to go to the store for dog food. TaskRabbit is a website that lets people and companies outsource odd jobs to pre-screened “runners” who bid against one another for the work. To date, her company has raised $40 million in funding and operates in nine U.S. cities.

The evening’s theme highlighted two hallmarks of the business program — its entrepreneurial brand and experiential learning — and the connections between them. In her remarks at the podium, President Jo Ellen Parker noted that Sweet Briar has further embraced entrepreneurial thinking as an institutional strategic priority — although some may find the notion paradoxical for a liberal arts college, she said.

But it doesn’t mean lopsided recruiting for the business major or embarking on ventures unrelated to the College’s mission, Parker told an audience that included educators, investors, CEOs and company presidents.

“What it means is that we see many, many points of connection between the value of a liberal arts education and the qualities that make for successful entrepreneurs,” she said.

An entrepreneur creates value in whatever sphere she inhabits, Parker said, be it a business’ goods or services, a nonprofit’s social or cultural contribution, or a college finding new “populations of learners,” as Sweet Briar is trying to do.

Following Parker at the podium, Tom Scott, the College’s director of entrepreneurial initiatives and chair of the business department, addressed how the experiential component of the curriculum fits the strategic initiative. The program excels at finding opportunities for students to apply theory in the real world, he said, citing partnerships with local employers such as Centra and Edison2 on student projects that provided real value to the companies.

But, he said, the companies his department hopes to engage with going forward — those trying to make the transition from startup to sustainable business, much like the three award recipients — need more than one-semester solutions. The challenge is to provide consistent services through school breaks and ever-revolving “personnel.”

Scott revealed that Beller’s PlanG, which launched in June, is willing to give his department that chance by hiring the College to direct its social media marketing. Research and analysis to define a strategy is under way this semester by students in Marketing and Social Media. The school will be remunerated if the customer is satisfied with the performance.

Beller took an interest in Sweet Briar several years ago when she was president of Affinion Loyalty Group in Richmond and an employee, Hilary Cook ’05, asked her to speak at her alma mater. “I come here regularly because I so connect with what you’re trying to do here,” Beller said when she accepted the award.

“When we came here to talk to classes, not only did I marvel at what they were getting to learn that I never did, … ” said Beller, a former computer programmer, “but we got to actually push up against those experiences and learn ourselves. And meet people like Amrit [Judge ’14] who would look at us with a little bit of a judgmental eye and say ‘Why aren’t you doing this and why aren’t you doing that?’

“And even though I can explain in my mind why we’re not, I like that she pushes us because I know one day we’ll be there to push her back.”

Beller noted that PlanG is still in its infancy, but she was struck by what Parker said in her comments, because the company serves nonprofits, individuals and brands with one product.

“We have created that sweet spot between creating commercial value, social value and educational value all together. And the partnership with Sweet Briar is really that educational piece.”

Contact: Jennifer McManamay

Benedict 201, 301 and 308; Fletcher 301, 308 and 314; and Pannell 202 are being transformed into high-tech “smart classrooms” based on a pilot program initiated in 2010. The findings of that investigation inform the renovations currently under way in the classrooms.

The 2010 grant-funded experiment in Benedict 101 essentially allowed faculty and students to test-drive a model learning space to evaluate state-of-the-art instructional technology and furnishings. They kept track of features that enhanced the educational experience and those that did not. The plan is to replicate the ideal 21st-century classroom across campus.

Sweet Briar’s development department is keeping its end of the bargain by raising the money to pay for the initiative. Grants officer Sheila Alexander secured $110,000 from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation and $200,000 from the Cabell Foundation, provided the College could match the grants. The combined amount will pay for 15 smart classrooms.

So far individual donors have responded, funding 11 of the 15 classrooms through matching gifts. Although development is still seeking commitments for the remaining four, it is anticipated that work on all 15 will be complete by fall 2013.

The initiative’s underlying philosophy recognizes that quality of learning is influenced and judged by the environment in which it occurs, says President Jo Ellen Parker.

“The classroom should support the energy, creativity and joy of teaching and learning,” she said. “Cleaner, fresher surfaces and colors, flexible and student-centered furnishings, and options that allow each group of students to use the space as organically as possible all help create that positive energy.”

The Margaret Jones Wyllie ’45 Engineering Program is generating a similar energy, also thanks to the power of philanthropy. Using its endowed funding, the program’s design lab suite in Guion 127 will have new wheeled tables for flexible class configurations, new flooring and paint, better storage and dedicated space for student-faculty research, to name a few improvements. Engineering’s computer lab in Guion 08 also received a makeover, as did 014, which houses the circuits/mechatronics and materials labs.

“Students will have a better learning experience because of what we have done,” said engineering director Hank Yochum, adding, “Some things are simple but important.”

Meanwhile, ARAMARK has re-opened the Prothro servery with freshly painted walls, new counters and reconfigured line areas where diners make their meal selections, assemble salads and peruse desserts. The company will roll out other changes as students return for the start of the academic year.

New head chef Steven Jones is overseeing changes that include two action stations that will rotate options such as stir-fry or pasta dishes. Oh, and there will be soft-serve ice cream.

ARAMARK began providing catering and dining at Sweet Briar in the summer of 2011. The renovations are part of the company’s ongoing commitment to the College, said Scott Shank, vice president for business and finance.

“We’re grateful to ARAMARK for its continued investment in our campus in order to enhance the dining program for our students and all community members,” he said.

The seminar focuses on “Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling” (TPRS), a method developed by Blaine Ray. In the last 20 years, TPRS has become popular among language educators. The seminar is one of many TPRS programs held nationwide, but it is the only one offered exclusively for German teachers.

The American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) has sponsored and publicized the program since its inception in 2003.

“Through the sponsorship of the program Sweet Briar has become well-known with German teachers from all over the United States and from some foreign countries,” said Ronald Horwege, professor of German at Sweet Briar.

The seminar originated after Julie Baird, a German teacher from Indiana and one of the leading experts in teaching German through TPRS, conducted an immersion weekend program at Sweet Briar College in 2002.

“After the immersion weekend, Julie and I sat down together and decided to follow up on the positive response the program had gotten by organizing a weeklong TPRS seminar,” Horwege said. “The idea was presented to the AATG and bore fruit.”

For the first seminar in 2003, Baird was assisted by Robert Williams, who teaches German at Fairfax High School in Fairfax, Va. Because enrollment grew with each session, the group expanded in its third year by adding Hank Schwab from North Brunswick Township High School in New Jersey. In subsequent years, other staff members were added. For this year’s seminar, the staff consists of Baird, Williams, Schwab and Horwege, who has organized and administered all seminar sessions.

German teachers from around the country gather at Sweet Briar College for the 2012 “TPRS Coaching and Learning” seminar.

— Janika Carey

Quamia Dennis works on the lyrics for a song during her morning writing lab.

It’s a Thursday morning in July, and the second session of UVa’s Young Writers Workshop is in full swing.

In a tiny classroom a handful of songwriting students have picked up their guitars, their fingers searching for notes that might inspire words. Handwritten signs taped to the wall with bright pink duct tape read “Contribute,” “Take risks” and “Revisions.”

In the kitchen lounge just outside the classroom, another student is listening to hip-hop beats on his computer, his head nodding as he scribbles down lyrics.

For 30 years, high school kids from across the country and abroad have been gathering during the summer to immerse themselves in their art. There are workshops in fiction, poetry, non-fiction, script- and songwriting. Some students have been coming for years; others became counselors and now teach some of the writing labs. The second session, which lasts three weeks, typically draws 50 percent of its applicants from workshop alumnae, according to assistant director Jeff Martin.

One thing is different in 2012: It’s the first time the workshop is taking place on the campus of Sweet Briar College, and not at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

“It’s been wonderful,” says Margo Figgins, founder and director of the program, which admits between 150 and 200 students each year.

After last year’s hiatus due to renovations at UVa, she’s glad to have found a new home for her young writers — at least for the moment. It’s too early to say whether Sweet Briar will become a permanent residence, but so far the campus seems like a natural fit for the program.

“The location here is much nicer,” says scriptwriting student Natcher Pruett, a 17-year-old from Minneapolis. It’s his second time participating in the workshop.

Students Libby Brennan (from left), Katherine Thompson, Helena Chung and Sarah Yung don’t mind writing in the company of other poets.

“It’s nice to wake up in the morning and see the mountains when you look out of the window.”

Chicago native Leah Barber, 16, agrees. “I really like Sweet Briar College as a location because it brings character to the program.”

Despite her urban background, the quietude of the campus doesn’t bother her. On the contrary, she says, it’s nice not having distractions.

“You can really focus on your writing,” she says. In her case, that’s poetry.

Some students call the landscape “inspiring” — a vibe Martin feels, too.

“One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed in shifting from Charlottesville to Sweet Briar is that, odd as this may sound, the land seems to have a calming effect on both the students and the parents,” says Martin, who’s been with the program since 2001.

“In Charlottesville there was construction around us every summer for more than a decade, and we were right on a major road, so it was a very busy space — both literally and to the eye — and never really quiet. Here, though, I’ve noticed from as early as registration — when the parents and their children first drive onto campus — that the land gets their attention: they talk not just about how pretty it is, but also about how quiet it is, and how peaceful.”

The campus environment emerged as a theme so often that it prompted Figgins to speculate on its impact.

“It’ll be interesting to see what role the landscape plays and how it enhances their experience,” she says.

Director Margo Figgins is also an associate professor at UVa’s Curry School of Education.

But there’s something else that students are benefitting from just as much as the landscape.

“The other major difference that helps immerse the students in the Young Writers experience is that here at Sweet Briar they’re surrounded by other arts programs, which wasn’t the case in Charlottesville,” Martin says.

“Between BLUR [Sweet Briar’s interdisciplinary arts camp] and [the College’s theater company-in-residence] Endstation, we’ve had opportunities for collaborations that we’ve never had before, and the effect of that is pretty powerful — after a while students simply accept that they’re surrounded by all kinds of different artists, and when art becomes the comfortable norm, the creation and sharing of it becomes much easier to do.”

Scriptwriting students assisted Endstation playwrights with some of their new scripts, and all workshop participants attended at least one Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival performance.

The Young Writers Workshop also collaborates with the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, which is located just across U.S. 29. VCCA fellows come to campus to read from their works and to teach electives — classes that fall outside of the students’ disciplines, but are always tied to writing. They’ve explored “Queer Theory in Beatles Songs,” invented a sock puppet world based on a YouTube video of an old MTV show, and delved into the art of a concept album, which involved listening to “Ziggy Stardust.”

“The VCCA is such an amazing resource,” says poetry student Zoe Jeka, 17, from Maryland.

Pruett, Barber and Jeka’s eyes light up when they talk about their classes. One of their favorite experiences was the 24-hour play, a workshop tradition in which students write and rehearse an original play in just one day. Barber and Jeka also loved finding random science books in the library to use as inspiration for their poetry.

During the academic year, assistant director Jeff Martin teaches composition, literature and fiction writing courses at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.

On weekends, counselors organize field trips to local orchards and farmers’ markets; during writing labs, students occasionally visit coffee shops and antique stores in Lynchburg. Sometimes, activities are meant to inspire, other times they’re just for fun. But in the end, the one thing everyone wants to do — all the time — is write.

It’s not uncommon for program participants to spend lunch breaks talking entirely about what they’ve been working on, Barber says. Most of the time, she adds, students can’t wait to get back to work. “We’re always writing.”

With just days before this year’s workshop ends, all three students say time has gone by way too fast. They’re not ready to part from newly found friends and return to their high schools, where writing is just one of many subjects.

“I wish it was all summer,” Barber says with a sigh.

Martin knows from experience that there will be “lots of tears” come closing day. “Which is a little sad to watch, but it also means we did our job,” he adds.

— Janika Carey

The conference, which includes an interactive workshop, is geared toward anyone who is involved in one of the hundreds of historical societies in Virginia. Addressing issues that town or county historical societies face, the event will feature presentations from speakers with experience in improving fundraising, developing effective advisory or oversight board governance, creating new community partnerships, establishing a social media presence and tapping the resources of statewide organizations.

Historical society board members, staff, committee chairs and active volunteers are all encouraged to attend. In recognition of the financial challenges local historical societies are experiencing, conference organizers have set the fee for registration at $20, which includes a boxed lunch and continental breakfast beginning at 8:30 a.m. The event runs from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Registration deadline is Aug. 6. Participants may register online through Sweet Briar College’s Tusculum Institute.

The morning session will open with a welcome from Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, followed by presentations from three guest speakers:

• David Bearinger, director of grants and public programs at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Jo Ann Williford, member of the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies, who will discuss the importance of partnerships and collaboration;
• Claire Holman, a Charlottesville-based consultant to nonprofits, who will address ways to improve fundraising campaigns; and
• Sam Davis, a consultant with more than 25 years of strategic management experience working with family enterprises and philanthropic organizations, who will speak about effective board governance.

The afternoon session will include a presentation by Tusculum Institute director Lynn Rainville on using social media channels — from tumblr to twitter and from Facebook to Flickr — to reach new audiences.

Following the plenary presentations, the remainder of the afternoon will be devoted to concurrent breakout sessions hosted by representatives of state organizations who will focus on the available resources offered by their respective organizations to assist and support the mission of a local historical society.

Afternoon speakers include:

• John Metz, director of archives, records and collections, Library of Virginia;
• John Kneebone, director, Public History Program, Virginia Commonwealth University;
• Phyllis Leffler, director, Public History Program, University of Virginia;
• Bill Obrochta, director of education, Virginia Historical Society;
• Ann Miller, senior historian, Virginia Department of Transportation Research Council;
• Bob Carter, director, Sweet Briar College satellite office, Department of Historic Resources.

The afternoon will also include scheduled opportunities for participants with shared interests — “affinity groups” — to spend time together during two half-hour coffee breaks to discuss issues of mutual concern. Additionally, a conference-wide half-hour session is planned for brainstorming and discussion about plans for future annual conferences.

The conference schedule is available online at tusculum.sbc.edu/HistoricalSocieties.

The 19-month project is a partnership between faculty at the colleges and 4th- and 5th-grade teachers and administrators in five area school divisions and local schools (Bedford, Amherst, Appomattox and Campbell counties, Lynchburg City and James River Day School). It was made possible by a $199,502 grant through the Math-Science Partnership program from the Virginia Department of Education, awarded in spring 2011.

In collaboration with STEM and education faculty at the two colleges, 17 school teachers from the area spent the past year developing integrated STEM lessons — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — through an “iterative lesson study” process, creating lesson plans and instructional videos. Each lesson features either an inquiry- or problem-based teaching approach, engaging students in investigation and data analysis.

“These approaches to teaching and learning are known to help students access higher level problem solving skills and to develop critical thinking,” said Jill Granger, project director and professor of chemistry at Sweet Briar.

At the conference, project participants will give presentations and offer workshops to other local teachers. About 100 Central Virginia teachers are expected to participate.

Granger said the lesson plans and instructional videos will be disseminated via the Virginia Department of Education’s iTunes University and a project website this summer. Starting in September, the project’s participating teachers will “help others in their schools to adopt the new lessons for their classrooms,” she added.

For more information, email granger@sbc.edu or call (434) 381-6166. To read more about the project and grant, click here.

Contact: Janika Carey

They are calling it Sweet Drivers, and it all began last summer when Abdelwahed, an international affairs and philosophy major and business minor, was learning to drive. Abdelwahed’s mother, concerned for her safety on the congested streets of Houston, suggested she use a magnet to let other drivers know she was a learner. They had seen student driver magnets and plates while living and traveling in Europe.

They placed a homemade black-and-white magnet on Abdelwahed’s car, and the results were instant.

“Other drivers were more patient with me,” Abdelwahed said. “When I drove without it, drivers would tailgate and get easily irritated. … As soon as they noticed the magnet, they backed off.”

It made her feel safer.

“As a student driver, I felt more relaxed because instead of honking or trying to make me go faster — over the speed limit — they would pass me or slow down to speed limit,” she said.

Seeing how effective her magnet was, Abdelwahed thought other beginning drivers might benefit from it, as well. However, magnets already on the market — stark black and white or black and yellow — seemed designed to turn drivers off from using them. The answer was clear: Abdelwahed was going to create a magnet that would appeal to teenagers, parents and grandparents alike — something ‘learners’ would want to put on their cars.

She asked Richards, an anthropology major at Sweet Briar, to be her business partner. The two enlisted assistant professor of business Tom Loftus, who agreed to help as part of a directed studies course on entrepreneurship. They met weekly to discuss their progress, brainstorm design ideas, and set goals and a timeline.

Their product research was encouraging. They wrote a paper for the course, citing a recent Austrian study which found that “young drivers who use L-plates to warn other drivers had 15% [fewer] accidents than the ones who chose to learn how to drive without a student driver magnet or an L-plate.”

Loftus says the project also is a good example of the business department’s multidisciplinary approach to learning, and of the collaboration that happens at Sweet Briar.

“There’s so much energy here. Our department is very liberal arts because we’re so well connected with other departments. That’s what makes it exciting for faculty and students.”

Not surprisingly, support for the project quickly spread beyond the business department. Tom Marcais, academic technology trainer and consultant at Sweet Briar, helped Abdelwahed and Richards by explaining the costs and logistics involved in designing a website. He also talked to them about their sales strategy.

“I think that Anna and Allissa have come up with an excellent product concept,” said Marcais, who runs his own e-commerce business selling vintage advertisements at vintagepaperads.com.

“There doesn’t seem to be much existing competition, and I could see their magnets as being popular with parents, insurance companies and the student drivers themselves.”

Marcais said he was glad to share his own experiences.

“There’s a lot that goes into running an online business, and lots of expenses that can add up quickly,” he said.

“On the e-commerce side, we’ve talked about things such as registering a domain name, shopping cart software, payment gateways, credit card merchant accounts, shipping and banner advertising revenue. We’ve also had some discussions about social-media marketing with things like Google Adsense, Blogger blogs, Facebook and Twitter.”

More help came from Michael Brunelle, Abdelwahed’s Spanish instructor. Before coming to Sweet Briar, Brunelle worked as a graphic designer, first in New York City and later in Virginia. He helped the sophomores with technical and conceptual aspects of the design process.

“The design was already there, but we went back and forth on the colors, and I enjoyed a ‘teaching moment’ where I was able to explain and show them how backgrounds of different colors affect the perception of the color of an object.” Brunelle said.

“It is fun to see how they are progressing with their business — maybe it will inspire more students to see how far they can take their ideas.”

This spring, the two students are undertaking a marketing practicum with Loftus and a one-credit independent study course taught by Brunelle and Marcais. “Graphic Design for Business Entrepreneurs” includes an introduction to the fundamental concepts of graphic design and features lessons in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver.

“They’ve been doing a great job learning these programs, and are currently using Illustrator to design a logo concept for their business,” Marcais said.

To ensure that the magnets appeal to their target audience, Abdelwahed and Richards informally surveyed first-year students at Sweet Briar and presented the project to 30 students and faculty members. They used the feedback when editing their design. Some first-year students who were learning to drive bought the first-edition magnet (a hand-drawn version of the current edition) before Christmas break.

Abdelwahed and Richards are reaching out to the local community, as well. In December, they consulted Amherst County High School driving instructors, Larry Thomas and Chad Bryan, who thought the magnets were “an excellent idea,” Thomas said.

“We … support their project very much. These [magnets] are great to put on vehicles that new drivers are training in when not in an official driver’s ed car.”

In January, Sweet Drivers became an official partnership. Magnets can be purchased at the campus bookshop, through their blog, on Amazon, and via emailed order requests, which allow Abdelwahed and Richards to send invoices through Google checkout. So far, business has been slow, but the two are confident it will pick up soon.

“Founding Sweet Drivers has been an incredible learning experience,” Abdelwahed said.

“Anna and I are both confident that we will be able to launch our product successfully and increase awareness of new drivers on the road because we have a great support system.”

They do. Loftus purchased several magnets for his son, who started driving recently.

“Brian says that people seem to stay further away from him,” he said, adding that it makes him feel better as a parent, too.

His son also likes the look of it, which is what Abdelwahed and Richards were going for. After all, a student driver magnet is only useful if it’s actually being used.

“I think it’s fulfilling their goals,” Loftus said.

Next, the two entrepreneurs will present the magnets to students at Amherst County High School. Once Sweet Drivers takes off, they plan to donate 15 percent of their revenue to The Partnership for Safe Driving, a non-profit organization.

For more information about this project, visit Sweet Drivers on Facebook or follow them on Twitter (@SweetDrivers).

Contact: Janika Carey

Sweet Briar College will help answer the need for creative thinkers this summer when it debuts BLUR: The Blue Ridge Summer Institute for Young Artists, a program for high school students interested in theater, creative writing and visual art. The program will be held June 19 through July 9 on campus.

BLUR director Dave Griffith says the program was sparked by a conversation among arts faculty at Sweet Briar, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Endstation Theatre Company about a Newsweek article, “The Creativity Crisis.” The story cites data showing that children in America are less creative than they used to be, while problems such as the economy, health care and the environment are as complicated or more so than ever.

“We agreed that arts education should do more than just encourage self-expression,” Griffith says. “The arts can and should train students to think creatively and work collaboratively to solve problems in any area.”

Ideas to foster creativity among tomorrow’s leaders quickly took shape, Griffith says — and points out that Sweet Briar is the perfect place to host such a program. The College’s 3,250-acre campus, ranked among the most beautiful in the country by the Princeton Review, is home to dynamic programs in the creative and performing arts, including Endstation, a professional theater troupe-in-residence. The VCCA, one of the country’s largest artist communities, is next door.

BLUR’s interdisciplinary focus distinguishes the program and gives the institute its name, Griffith says. The idea is to blur the boundaries between the arts to imagine new ways of seeing, thinking and creating.

Participants will spend three weeks in residence at Sweet Briar, working deeply in one art form — creative writing, theater or visual art — but also collaborating with artists from other concentrations, responding to challenges that will require creative problem solving.

“Students will spend two-thirds of their day in their ‘home’ studio writing, painting, drawing and acting, and the other third collaborating with artists working in a different medium, designing and building collaborative exhibits and performances inspired by the natural landscape and aided by the iPad,” Griffith said.

In addition to the iPad, participants will also receive two hours of college credit for successfully completing the program, and young women who attend BLUR and later enroll at Sweet Briar will receive a $2,000 tuition credit.

The program’s faculty includes accomplished professionals with experience teaching young artists. Griffith, an assistant professor of English at Sweet Briar, and poet Brandon Som will teach creative writing. Kate Plows will serve as director of residential life. All three are veterans of the highly selective Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts.

Angela Sweigart-Gallagher, assistant professor of theater at Lock Haven University and Endstation director of education, specializes in directing youth productions, and multi-media artist Claire Hoch taught in the pre-college program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Program participants will also be mentored by the cast and crew of Endstation Theatre Company, whose Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival runs concurrently with BLUR. This partnership offers all the participants — whether concentrating in theater, writing or visual art — behind-the-scenes experience in staging a professional theater production.

“The goal is to energize, educate and entertain young artists,” Griffith says. “But we also want to expand their horizons. They should leave here seeing art and creativity in a completely new and refreshing way.”

To apply or for more information about tuition, housing and other program details, please visit sbc.edu/blur or send an e-mail to blur@sbc.edu to contact Griffith. Applications are due April 8.