Make summer matter.
Interested in business?
Or the business of sports?
Want to start a company or become an entrepreneur?
Getting ready for college?
If you’re a rising high school junior or senior with an interest in business, consider the Tar Heel Business Academy. This pre-college academy is an outstanding opportunity for you to develop important critical thinking and leadership skills. You’ll work with your classmates on dynamic projects for a real company and apply goal-setting lessons that will help you plan for the college application process.
You’ll learn important business concepts from world-class professors from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. At the end of the week, you’ll finish with a presentation to your “client” – and receive a Recognition of Achievement and a group photo – and leave the Academy prepared to take the business world by storm!
Program details
Business Essentials The Business of Sports
Learn more about the optional residential experience in Chapel Hill. Business Essentials Entrepreneurship * In all weeks, classes end at 2 p.m. on Fridays. Cost: $2,995 includes course fees and lunch/snacks |
Start your application!Apply for the 2027 Academy before the November 16 priority deadline to secure your spot! You’ll receive an admissions decision by December 1. Interested in becoming a peer leader?Applications for past participants to serve as peer leaders in the 2027 Academy will open in early 2027. Contact us via email for more information or to let us know you’re interested. |
Learn more about the Academy.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN | COURSE OPTIONS | RESIDENTIAL EXPERIENCE
PROGRAM BENEFITS | AGENDA | THE INSTRUCTORS | FAQ/REQUIREMENTS
What you’ll learn
At the Tar Heel Business Academy, you’ll learn and practice the Carolina Way: Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together. These guiding principles build character and will help you and your classmates collaborate, execute, and succeed!
Knowledge is power.
You’ll be introduced to key business topics through real-world applications, case studies and group projects. This new knowledge will prepare you for a wide range of careers in business and beyond. In addition, throughout the program, your professors will provide guidance on how to use generative AI to amplify your creativity.
Put it into practice.
You’ll work with your classmates and professors to create and present solutions to help an entrepreneurial leader with a real-world challenge. This practical experience will help you succeed in college and later when you enter the professional world.
The soft skills that matter most.
You’ll develop critical teamwork, presentation and networking skills that will make you an impressive leader, further strengthening your resume for college and job applications.
Advice for your future.
You’ll learn more about academic journeys and career paths from your teaching assistants, who are students or recent graduates from UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Undergraduate Business Program, peer leaders who previously attended the Academy, and executive guest speakers and entrepreneurs.
Three course options
Business Essentials: Core Skills for Future Leaders
June 14-18, 2027, in Charlotte, June 21-25, 2027, or July 12-16, 2027, in Chapel Hill
Learn about five important areas of business – strategy, finance, marketing, operations and leadership. Then, use what you’ve learned to become a consultant, helping a real company solve a real business challenge. You’ll also learn how to use AI as a thought partner, working with cutting-edge tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and data analytics platforms to make smart decisions, create impressive presentations and prepare for college and beyond!
The Business of Sports: Winning Strategies for Homecourt Advantage
June 14-18, 2027, in Charlotte
College and professional sports are big business. Learn how teams win on and off the field by applying the core concepts of business to tackle real challenges facing the sports industry today. Use AI to scout data, sharpen decisions, and build a game-ready presentation, proposing real solutions to a real problem facing a real client.
Entrepreneurship: The Founder Mindset – Build the Next Big Idea
July 12-16, 2027, in Chapel Hill
Turn problems into opportunities in this fast-paced bootcamp where you’ll design a new venture and prepare a presentation for feedback from real entrepreneurs and investors. Even if you’re not sure that you want to become an entrepreneur, the mindset you’ll develop will teach you how to think like an owner. You’ll also use AI as a thought partner throughout the week to move faster and smarter and you’ll build practical skills in teamwork, problem-solving and communication — skills that matter no matter where your future career takes you!
Optional residential experience in Chapel Hill
Experience life on campus at UNC! An optional residential (overnight) add-on is available for attendees at the UNC-Chapel Hill location. You will stay in shared UNC dorm rooms with other Academy participants from Sunday afternoon to Friday, eat breakfast and dinner in university dining facilities, and enjoy evening social outings guided by supportive, friendly UNC student counselors and adult leadership staff.
A few important notes:
- The overnight package includes housing, meals, and all evening activities. The cost of the optional residential experience is $1,000, and is not included in the Tar Heel Business Academy program fee.
- Participants must bring their own sheets, towels, and pillows.
- Airport pickup/dropoff from RDU airport is also available to residential participants for an additional $50 fee each way.
Our partner, Outset, coordinates and manages the overnight package. If you have additional questions related specifically to the package, please contact Outset at annie@joinoutset.com.
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Program highlights and benefits
The Tar Heel Business Academy is an exciting, weeklong experience that will introduce you to the college experience.
Experience a “college” classroom.
You’ll learn from professors who teach undergraduate and graduate students at UNC Kenan-Flagler and experience the rigor and engagement of a dynamic college-level course.
Create something real.
In Business Essentials, you’ll help an actual company tackle an actual problem. In Entrepreneurship, you’ll create a project you can take with you — and maybe even launch into the market. In fact, a number of groups from last year’s Academy are still working together to pursue their ideas! Either way, you’ll have something impressive to call your own and to talk about in your college applications.
Make new friends and learn new skills.
No matter which program you choose, you’ll build new relationships and add new skills that you can tap into for years to come.
Learn from business leaders.
You’ll meet executives and owners from major companies who work in the same areas that you’ll study, giving you a chance to learn about possible career paths. You’ll work directly with these leaders, proposing solutions to their real-world challenges, and you’ll build connections that extend beyond the Academy. Past participants, many of whom are UNC Kenan-Flagler alumni, have joined us from Coca-Cola Consolidated, Wells Fargo, the Charlotte Hornets, McKinsey & Company (a business consulting firm), Brandwein’s Bagels, and Sundrop (Keurig Dr. Pepper).
Program agenda
Each day begins with a look at the day’s agenda.
From Monday to Thursday, you will tackle different business topics with overview discussions, a review of real-world applications and related case studies, team-building exercises, time to work on team projects, coaching sessions with the professors and visits from local entrepreneurs and business leaders.
On Friday, you and your team members will present your projects and receive valuable feedback on your work from your peers, the professors, and your client. Prizes will be awarded for the best ideas and delivery.
Throughout the week, you’ll also explore topics related to collaboration and teamwork and participate in a variety of exercises that will help you put those skills to work!
“The Academy connected us with sharp, motivated students. Their marketing and strategy ideas were practical and inspiring and their insights are helping shape Eden’s real-world rollout.”
Meet the instructors
At the Tar Heel Business Academy, you’ll work closely with top professors from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School who teach in our undergraduate and graduate programs. These professors are truly invested in your success, providing support and insight throughout the week to help you realize your potential!
Professor Paul Friga teaches courses in consulting and strategy. He oversees the curriculum for UNC Kenan-Flagler’s consulting area of emphasis in the Undergraduate Business Program. He has written multiple books on consulting and his work has been published in top journals. Prior to teaching, he worked as a management consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and McKinsey & Company and consulted for numerous major companies, including Microsoft, Boeing and the U.S. Navy. He is a double Tar Heel with an MBA and PhD from UNC Kenan-Flagler. He graduated magna cum laude with a double degree in management and accounting from Saint 
Professor Chip Snively teaches various courses in finance, including investments, corporate finance, and a personal finance class for all students at Carolina. He teaches primarily in the Undergraduate Business Program, but also the master’s programs and UNC Executive Development. Prior to teaching, Professor Snively worked for Intel in various senior management roles, including running manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, China and Puerto Rico and at American Airlines. He received 
Professor Markus Saba teaches marketing, including courses in global healthcare and brand management. He is an advisor to the School’s STAR program, which provides students with real-world experience as consultants to major companies, leads the healthcare concentration for the Full-Time MBA Program and serves as executive in residence for the Center for the Business of Health. Prior to teaching, Professor Saba worked for Eli Lilly and Company for 25 years, where he held numerous leadership positions and led the global marketing efforts for the diabetes business unit.
Professor Karin Cochran teaches courses in consulting and leads the STAR program, where students consult on projects for real companies around the world. She previously served as chief deputy secretary for the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which oversees agencies that manage the state zoo, state parks and aquariums, as well as many history and art museums and libraries. As a management consultant for Deloitte, she also worked on numerous mergers and acquisitions, healthcare initiatives and significant IT implementation projects.
An active practicing entrepreneur, Professor Ted Zoller teaches entrepreneurship and has helped numerous students launch new ventures that they initiated in his classes. He developed the Six M Venture Circuit — meaning, market, model, management, milestones and money. Professor Zoller was the founder of Launch Chapel Hill and has been an active leader in several key programs at Carolina and across the Research Triangle, including Innovate@Carolina and the Startup-UNC venture development program.
An award-winning educator, Professor Livis Freeman teaches sports communication and public relations and has helped Carolina students connect classroom learning with professional experience. He founded 4ourFans, a public and community relations firm that helps professional athletes build charitable identities, strengthen community engagement, manage media relations and prepare for life beyond sports. Professor Freeman serves as distinguished associate professor for sports communication at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and adjunct professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler and directs both the Sports Communication Program and the Chuck Stone Program. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill and his master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from UNC Wilmington.