College News

Future small business owners relax after presenting their business plans April 30 during the final class of Central Carolina Community Colleges Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning (REAL) program at the colleges Chatham County Campus in Pittsboro. The program graduates are (seated, from left) Ben Miller, of Apex; Caitlin FitchMooney, of Snow Camp; Andrew Dixon, of Siler City; Erin Whitman, of Chapel Hill; and Lisa Wichalonis, of Raleigh; (standing, from left) Robert Raudenbush, of Liberty; Sam Hanlin, of Chapel Hill; Catherine Rodriguez, of Snow Camp; Luke Kirkley, of Durham; Adam Stark, of Pittsboro; Tiffany Billington, of Pittsboro; and Marikate Preston, of Moncure. Wichalonis received her AAS degree in Professional Arts & Crafts: Sculpture at the colleges May 9 graduation. Dixon and Whitman are current sculpture/pottery students; Preston is an accounting student; and FitchMooney, Hanlin, Kirkley, Miller, Raudenbrush, and Rodriguez are sustainable agriculture students. Stark and Billington are community members who came to the college just for this class. REAL is a unique entrepreneurship course that provides students with the practical experience of researching a business area, writing a business plan, and learning what is required to make their small business idea succeed. For more information about the colleges REAL program, contact instructor Diane Kannarr, dkannarr@cccc.edu, or (919) 7187247. For more information about N.C. REAL, visit www.ncreal.org/.