Bob Peeler speaks to Business Week participants

South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Addresses Business Week 2001 Participants at Erskine College

South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler spoke to an assembly of more than 170 high school students, advisors and staff members at Erskine College today in a highlight of the weeklong "Business Week 2001" camp held on the campus this week.

Minutes before Peeler took the podium, Business Week participants, divided into "companies" for the week, competed to see which company could raise the loudest "Business Week Spirit" cheer.

"I believe our state government can learn a thing or two from some of the successful business initiatives you have been hearing about this week," Peeler told his enthusiastic audience. Peeler said he ran for Lieutenant Governor on the basis of his own business experience. His grandfather founded the family dairy business that now sells milk products in three states. "My grandfather had a few cows and a large family," Peeler joked.

Emphasizing the importance of individual effort and enterprise, Peeler said there were times in his own family business "when everything did not always run smoothly," but his family "remained focused and never lost sight of our goals."

Peeler, a Gaffney native and now a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said he first entered politics when he ran for the school board in Cherokee County, S.C. He urged Business Week students to "become involved in the political and civic life of your community and work for the purpose of preserving and extending our freedom and our free enterprise."

Noting that some citizens believe political endeavor is a futile exercise, Peeler said, "As your Lieutenant Governor, I speak with absolute certainty that those in positions of leadership are making decisions for you, in essence deciding what kind of life you can lead."

Calling the Business Week high school participants "the cream of the crop," Peeler issued a challenge to the students. "Because of the gifts you have been given, you are responsible for continually and relentlessly working to ensure that society does not fall into a trap of only striving for material wealth or trading our ability to excel for a life of mediocrity."

Reminding students that Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Ford Motor Company did not begin as mega corporations, but rather "started when the flames of free enterprise were kindled in Sam Walton, Bill Gates and Henry Ford," Peeler said, "the same opportunities that were there for them are there for you."

Peeler said that students will be able to contribute to society no matter what profession they choose. "You can help save lives, provide prosperity, record history, prevent disease and train the minds of the next generation. You will make the business decisions that will affect our state's future prosperity."

Peeler closed with a quotation from the Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks, a 19th century American clergyman famous for writing the Christmas hymn "O Little Town of Bethlehem." In a charge to graduating seniors at Harvard University, Brooks said, "Character cannot be made except by a steady, long-continued process."

Business Week 2001 continues through Friday, July 13. High school students participating in the program are enjoying summer camp with a difference, working in "companies" and building businesses through simulation exercises. Students were welcomed Sunday by Dr. Carol Stewart, Vice President for Public Policy, South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

Representatives from area businesses, corporations and industry donated their time to serve as "Company Advisors" during the week. Dr. William Junkin, Associate Dean for Learning and Technology and Professor of Physics at Erskine College, delivered a "Technology Talk" to adult leaders in an orientation meeting July 7 and Dr. Tracy Kramer, Associate Professor of Business Administration at Erskine, spoke to both business leaders and high school students during the week.

Organized through the efforts of the South Carolina Chamber Excellence in Education Council, the South Carolina Bankers Association, the South Carolina Council on Economic Education, the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, and the South Carolina Department of Education, Business Week offers high school students an opportunity to learn skills and gain knowledge in such areas as decision making and analysis, market trends, e-commerce, and business ethics.

Bob Peeler (middle) shakes hands with one
of the Business Week participants