Risky Education

When Rebecca White meets students and aspiring business owners in the University of Tampa Entrepreneurship program for the first time, she presents them with a hypothetical wager.

Would any of the young business majors cross Interstate 275, one of the busiest highways in Tampa, blindfolded for $1 million?

Although some jokers heartily accept the challenge, most admit they would walk away from the bet. However, White then tweaks the odds by offering the same amount to do it without the blindfold. “That's what our program is designed to do,” she says. “We want to remove their blindfolds.”