Introduction and Overview

Hi everyone! My name is Poom Pipatjarasgit, and the purpose of my blog is to document what I am experiencing during my 2016 Winter Intensive Independent Study, Business Development: Exploring the Future of Maumee Valley through Expansion. During my independent study, I'll be evaluating the possibilities for future expansion of Maumee Valley Country Day School with the help of my independent study sponsor, Kim Spurgeon, the school's Director of Finance. My primary project will be to create a financial model that will help Maumee Valley evaluate the feasibility of an expansion. In order to do this, I will evaluate the expansion idea from business and financial standpoints, research the demand for such expansion, and possibly even research potential site locations. I will additionally attend meetings with the Business Opportunities Task Force.

My intensive has been divided into three parts: familiarization with spreadsheet functions, finding relevant information that pertains to an expansion, and building the model. The first part will consist of a crash course in Microsoft Excel. This will help me create the model in the third part of my intensive. The second part has to do with finding information about logistical parts of an expansion, from the cost of hiring teachers to researching state laws regarding size of a facility for students. The third part involves me using information found in the second part of the intensive to create a model, using the software that I learned in the first part of the intensive.

I will be presenting my model and other findings to the community at the Winter Intensive Fair on Monday, January 25, 2016, at Maumee Valley Country Day School, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

This is my second independent study; I did an independent study last year, entitled Perspectives: The American Justice System, in which I explored the legal system of the United States. You can take a look at what I did here.