SEMO's Catapult Creative House will help students on entrepreneurial path

Catapult Creative House, Southeast Missouri State University's creative arts and industries incubator, will be officially dedicated during Homecoming festivities at 1 p.m. Friday at 612 S. Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau.

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Catapult Creative House, Southeast Missouri State University's creative arts and industries incubator, will be officially dedicated during Homecoming festivities at 1 p.m. Friday at 612 S. Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Former Sikeston resident Charles Stamp Jr. will be the honorary guest at the dedication. A gift of $750,000 from Stamp, who is vice president, Public Affairs Worldwide at Deere and Company and a Southeast alumnus, made the facility possible, according to University officials.

Catapult cultivates creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship by connecting interdisciplinary teams of students, faculty and practitioners in a rich array of hands-on learning experiences embedded in courses, collaborative projects and extracurricular programming.

"Catapult Creative House's emphasis is collaboration, helping students look at their project from all angles. An entrepreneur has to understand all aspects of business, from product development, to marketing, management, accounting, sourcing and more," said Leah Powers, operations manager of Catapult Creative House. "Catapult is connecting students working at Catapult with students from multiple disciplines and professional mentors to offer insight in the development of business. Catapult Creative House already houses five resident studio students and an increasing variety of student product."

For the full story, see Thursday's edition of the Standard Democrat.