By Tricia Cherry —
Wednesday, February 11th, was the first TEE Time of the 2026 Spring semester. The Empowerment Exchange (TEE Time for short) is an informal weekly meeting, with or without scheduled speakers who lecture on various subjects. It is held in the Center for Social and Economic Empowerment in Rentschler Hall, on the Hamilton campus of Miami University, from 11:30 to 12:30 on Wednesdays. These meetings began last semester as an experiment headed by Dr. Bennyce Hamilton, who was very pleased with the success of the program last semester. As always, free pizza was offered to all who attend.
Toward the end of the last semester, one of the last TEE Times was on the subject of entrepreneurship. Students were given the opportunity to come up with a financially viable idea, with the specific prompt to turn $100 into $1,000. The hope was that they would take the break between semesters to invent this idea, iron out the kinks in accordance with a guide, and present the polished idea before the group, who were encouraged to ask tough questions.
I was the first to present, and my idea was called PocketLit Press. It is a trio of easy, cheap, nearly free-to-make products: mini-zines the size of a phone, containing snippets of public domain literature (Shelly, Homer, Anderson, etc.) along with QR codes linking to the full text, allowing people to access them for as little as the $4 the mini-zines would cost. The two main suggestions given to me were for short explanations of who the authors are, and for the occasional picture, which can be included in special editions, but not the basic product, so as to keep it cheap.
The second presenter was Morgen Tamas, who proposed a social program that she called Max Potential. This is a mentorship program that resembles existing programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters. The main difference is that her program is less about mentorship in general and more focused on self-discovery and the discovery and nourishment of hidden abilities and passions in at-risk youths. Morgan’s vision is that this be especially reachable in low-income or under-supported environments. The template for this process would be a rotation of students through various activities ranging from art to fitness. Max Potential, the speaker says, will help kids discover what they are naturally good at, with the goal of boosting their confidence and self-knowledge.
The final proposal was the only one that was a simple handout; the other had slide-shows to go along with them. This final idea was a Japanese beef bowl: a premade meal of rice, seasoned beef, and assorted vegetables. It is compatible with meal plans and restaurants. In the speaker’s mind, people are always willing to try new and exciting foods, especially if they don’t have to cook it, so this bowl would find an audience quickly.
TEE Time is free to all those who attend, and in this case, presenters were promised a reward for their efforts, which will be decided in the coming days or weeks. In the meantime, attendees are encouraged to return the next week and to bring a friend. Once again, these meetings are held every Wednesday from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.
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