Michael’s Dairy will be hitting the road soon with its much-loved ice cream, thanks to a newly acquired trailer outfitted to serve up frozen treats and input from Prof. James Patsalides’ Business 311: Entrepreneurship I class. The trailer took its “maiden journey” at Commencement 2023.

Working throughout the spring semester with Keith Padin, manager of auxiliary business operations at Mitchell College, the Entrepreneurship students examined all facets of the Michael’s Dairy Ice Cream Trailer business. Their project included four workshops: value mapping, business modeling, go-to-market strategy and a retrospective.

“Adding catering to the Michael’s Dairy operation has been an idea for some time,” Padin said.

Emily (Pratts) Pratts ’23 said that Patsalides was helpful in directing the class “to think of improvements or other ideas that may work better for a functioning business. He taught us that when writing down business ideas, to always include some worst-case scenarios. That way you can get in the mindset of thinking of safety plans for those scenarios and other ways to produce income from the business.”

Padin said that the worst-case scenarios that the students conceived would help with planning for the trailer, including things like running out of gas, dealing with melted ice cream and poor customer service. They also balanced those negative aspects against existing positives, such as “same great ice cream, amazing staff and lots of festivals and sporting events in the area to go to,” he said.

According to Patsalides, the course was the first in a process now underway of building out a Business Learning Lab in collaboration with Michael’s Dairy and other campus businesses, including The Red Barn, campus rentals and the campus gear shop.

“The connections enable real interaction between students and the staff running the businesses. This ‘authentic’ learning helps them recognize that the skills they are gaining are transferable to any job. In the Entrepreneurship class, we used the Michael’s Dairy project as an exemplar of how to complete each part of another class project—individual business model development. The ice cream trailer workshops we conducted completed the same deliverables students would subsequently develop for their own business ideas. This seemed to work really well and provided both great experiential learning for the students and useful advice and insights for the Michael’s Dairy Ice Cream Trailer work,” said Patsalides.

Rising junior Alexander (Zander) Moubayed said that working on the ice cream trailer project “helped me gain a deeper understanding of business operations and was a fun experience. Seeing the ice cream trailer finished on the last day of class was my favorite part of the experience,” he added. “It felt like we were part of the process, and even Keith said that we should be proud and thanked us for our perspectives and outside-the-box thinking. Our brainstorming sessions and ideas actually helped him out, and both Michael’s Dairy and Mitchell might benefit from it, which is most certainly a valid reason to be proud.”

Pratts agreed and said, “Working on the ice cream trailer project felt like we were part of the team that put it all together. The staff that has been working on this and the Michael’s Dairy Board that brought it to life actually listened to our ideas, and it showed in the final product. It was really nice to see as a student because you get to essentially see your ideas that you spent weeks coming up with in real life, and it was incredible!”

“With a mission of supporting our students (all proceeds from the dairy directly support Mitchell College students), to get to share in the building process with them was an amazing experience. To hear input from a core demographic and customer base was invaluable,” Padin said.

The Michael’s Dairy Ice Cream Trailer was open for business at Commencement 2023.

Answering a need to prepare students to pursue in-demand jobs—and to provide the economy with workplace-ready employees—Mitchell College is unveiling several new academic options starting the Fall 2023 semester. The new majors include two new bachelor’s degrees and two new associate degrees:

• Business Management (B.S.)
• Public Health (B.A.)
• Computer and Data Information Systems (A.S.)
• General Studies, with a focus on Workplace Readiness (A.A.)

Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth A. Beaulieu, Ph.D., said, “Mitchell College strives to be a contributing leader in workforce development, preparing students through market-relevant programs to enter in-demand fields. The new programs add to an already wide variety of disciplines in areas of high student interest and high employer demand.”

She added, “For our bachelor’s programs, introductory to advanced coursework provides content knowledge and skills, and our Integrative Career Development (ICD) program provides career preparation for our students. Career planning begins with our First-Year Experience, followed by a second-year, discipline-specific career seminar and culminates in upper-level mastery courses and practical application courses, including internships, research courses and/or capstones. Students pursuing an associate degree also have full access to career development support from ICD. This degree can also be stepping stone to more advanced education.”

The Bachelor of Science in Business Management is designed to prepare students to be “work ready” within their chosen business career. Students will learn to evaluate management situations and apply appropriate professional methods to improve operations, solve problems and deliver results. Through an experiential learning approach, students are empowered with knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors required to pursue careers in business and management. They will also study environmental, social and economic systems and emerging megatrends which affect contemporary business operations, with a focus on small and family business. Specializations within the major include entrepreneurship and innovation, project management and organizational transformation, and digital marketing. Additionally, Michael’s Dairy, a popular local business on Mitchell’s campus, will serve as a “learning lab” for students enrolled in the business major.

The Bachelor of Arts in Public Health focuses on community health. The degree equips students with an understanding of public health principles and the skills and knowledge needed to address community health problems and improve assessment, cultural competence and advocacy. The curriculum includes courses in health promotion and disease prevention, health policy, and social and behavioral health, among others. It also offers hands-on experience through a community-based internship and prepares students for careers in a wide range of public health settings, including health departments, non-profit organizations, community health centers and government agencies. Graduates may also pursue advanced degrees in public health or related fields.

The Associate of Science in Computer and Data Information Systems is designed to meet student demand for technology-centric academic experiences aligned with 21^st-century workforce needs. Students who enroll in the program will develop computer programming skills using multiple software platforms and use those skills to examine and analyze data and develop conclusions that apply to data-driven decisions about problems in real time. This degree program will also include an option for students to test for industry certification in cybersecurity through Mitchell’s Digital Innovation Hub for Educational Excellence (The Hub).

The Associate of Arts in General Studies focuses on workplace readiness, combining traditional courses in liberal education—such as literature, history and social sciences—with transferable hard and soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Hard skills include writing, reading comprehension, verbal communication and technology readiness. Soft skills include leadership, critical and creative thinking, community and collaboration and analysis and problem-solving. Mastery of these skills creates a foundation for careers in social services, business administration, marketing, healthcare, retail services and other business sectors or for pursuing a four-year degree.