Molloy College runs business boot camp

It's shortly after 8 a.m. on the brilliantly sunny Tuesday this week, and about 60 high school and college-age students are sitting in a darkened theater listening to two older men talking about business ethics.

What's wrong with this picture? According to the students, nothing. They would rather be in the low-lit theater at Molloy College in Rockville Centre than at the beach, or anywhere else for that matter, they said in interviews.

Molloy this week conducted a unique, one-week, free lecture program, Molloy Business Boot Camp, to acquaint young people with the world of finance and economics, and how to read the business press.

"Since I was 10 years old, I've been interested in business," said one of the students, 17-year-old Ivana Londono, who attends a public high school in Jackson Heights. It was her decision - not her parents' - to attend the Molloy program, she said. She wants to be, she said, "a deal maker."

Martin Concepción, 20, of Merrick, who transferred to Molloy from Nassau Community College recently, said he wanted to get a head start on his studies coming up in the fall. How about sitting on the beach and relaxing? "That's not my type of personality," he said.

Brianna Giarraputo, 16, of Garden City, who attends Garden City High School, said she has never taken a business course before. Molloy's dean of the business division, Ed Weis, visited her school and talked about the boot camp program. Her mom got an e-mail about it. "She presented it to me as an option," Brianna said.

Matthew Gonyon, 17, of Lynbrook, a student at Chaminade High School in Mineola, said he was there because the world today "is all about getting an edge." The program, he said, might help him get into the college of his choice.

Are there ethics in the business world? Not many, the students agreed. The answer? "The consumers must be more educated," Concepción said.

Weis visited about 40 high schools to talk about the program. He said he thought only about 20 students would sign up. Some who applied, he said, were weeded out as not motivated enough. "They're our kind," he said of the ones enrolled.