In early 2010, Stig Lanesskog, associate dean for the MBA program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, challenged a group of his students to venture beyond classroom polemics and into the lives of people in need. Lanesskog took them to South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, a culturally rich and economically devastated area with limited educational resources. Nearly 80 percent of the population is unemployed and 70 percent of high school students drop out. Working with a non-profit organization, the student volunteers began working on home improvement projects during their one-week stay and continued their efforts in a more organized way by establishing the Kola Foundation. Kola Foundation president Adam Ratner said their focus is to help young people and to reduce dropout rate. He also points out that business development is one of Pine Ridge's most urgent needs. One of their projects will offer consulting services to business owners and another will help establish a credit union on the reservation. They also are selecting Pine Ridge students to participate in a summer program on the Urbana-Champaign campus. The program will focus on math, science and arts classes and provide the opportunity to experience life in a university environment. Kola Foundation plans to identify high school students who are interested in careers in business; one of their projects is to sponsor a business plan competition for high school students.