RESULTS
Empowering and Impacting the Next Generation
Washington Business Week is a unique opportunity like no other. We place business professionals with high school students in a dynamic workplace simulation for a week during the summer where students role-play as industry professionals, launch a company, and solve real-world challenges.
Backed by over 100 Washington state organizations and businesses, including Microsoft, Boeing, PEMCO Insurance, and Costco, we have sent more than 80,000 students and 25,000 business professionals through our programs.
Years of connecting teens to business leaders and college opportunities
Number of youth having graduated from our programs
Collage scholarship dollars given to program attendees
Total students served in 2025
What students say about WBW:
After Washington Business Week…
- My participation will help me to: chose a career. 57%
- My participation will help me to: work harder in school. 67%
- My participation will help me to: participate more in group activities. 76%
- My participation will help me to: focus on my future. 80%
- My participation will help me to: be a better leader. 81%
- I feel confident about my abilities to enter the workforce after high school. 84%
- This program has taught me skills that I can apply to my education and every day life. 96%
What families say about WBW:
After Washington Business Week…
- After WBW, my student has an improved understanding of how a business runs. 100%
- After WBW, my student has a greater understanding of why education is relevant to their future career success. 92%
- After WBW, my student is a better leader. 92%
- After WBW, my student is more confident. 92%
- After WBW, my student seems to be more focused on career goals. 89%
Students see a boost in self-efficacy.
Business Week builds student optimism and changes how youth see themselves. Significant numbers of WBW students report increased Generalized Self Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy, which have long-term impacts.
%
Increase Generalized Self-Efficacy
Generalized Self-Efficacy:
- Increases school persistence.
- Increases school performance.
- Increases career exploration.
- Increases goal persistence.
%
Increase Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy
Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy:
- Increases the likelihood of starting a business.
- Increases the performance of founded companies.
Where can Washington Business Week take a student?
Meet some of the business & community leaders who attended Business Week as students. Many still come back to meet students each summer!
Washington Business Week benefits professionals too.
Washington Business Week provides real career development for the professionals that attend WBW and support the next generation of leaders.
%
Extreme Career Growth
More than 10% of employees participating as Company Advisors between 2008 – 2018 have been promoted to titles of Director and above.
From our annual report…
Today, Washington Business Week serves more than 1,000 teens across the state through summer camps and in-school community programs annually. Each year, dozens of businesses and hundreds of professionals participate, providing teens with real-world experiences in a variety of careers.
What's Ahead
Our new strategic plan reflects a clear vision: Washington Business Week as a sustainable organization serving a meaningful portion of students statewide, supported by a strong and engaged community. Over the next three years, we aim to double both the number of students we serve and the resources that support them, while continuing to strengthen the foundations that make our work possible.
Today, WBW is well positioned to carry our mission forward, together with you, for the next half century.
When I was told the program would change my life, I didn’t realize how true it would be. . . . Washington Business Week has taught me so much more than just how to succeed in a professional setting. I am now comfortable speaking in front of a large group of people and leading a group of strangers to success. Not only can I read financial reports and write a business plan, I can make new friends I will keep for a lifetime in a group of people I have only known for a week. . . . Business Week has taught me to step out of my comfort zone, take risks, and take responsibility for my actions.
– Gillian Whelan, 2009 & 2010 BW Participant, University of Washington Student