Area high school students took part in the first-ever Business Camp and Job Fair at Meridian Community College.

The camp was created by Phyllis Dean from an idea that sparked when she interned at The Montgomery Institute.

"My goal is to spark an interest, to get them thinking, and to set them on a path that will make them look at all aspects of learning, all aspects of their neighborhoods, get them noticing the things that are going on," said Dean. "See what works and what doesn't work, and see what they can do to make a difference."

The camp got the students thinking about what it takes to start their own businesses.

"This is actually through the West Alabama-East Mississippi initiative. It's a wired grant through the Montgomery Institute. Our goal is to build regions and to work with youth and entrepreneurship, so actually today is a region-wide effort," said organizer Lisa Sollie. "We have students from east Mississippi and west Alabama here together, and we have entrepreneurs and business people here from both states."

One speaker at the camp is an entrepreneur himself. He started a restaurant in Hattiesburg.

"I think it's important just to give them a very realistic view of what entrepreneurship is and to let them know that with a good idea and with enough work ethic and with enough time and hard work that anybody can do it as long as you have a good idea and you have the vision to make something happen," said Charles Arinder.

The camp taught the basics on entrepreneurship so that students could be encouraged to start their own businesses. Officials say it's important in these times because small businesses often help the economy more than large corporations.