C·L·I·M·B
Southern Adventist University · School of Business
CLIMB
Center for Learning in Innovative Missional Business

CLIMB is where students learn business by doing it — building real ventures and serving real community needs, with real tools and real accountability. Two studios, one mission: business as a force for good.

Business as a force for social good — now and for eternity.
Enter the Impact Studio → Enter the Forge Studio →
Two studios under one roof

Choose your studio

CLIMB runs two hands-on studios. They share a philosophy, a structure, and a family of field guides — but they answer two different questions: whose problem are you solving, and who owns what you build?

MGNT 288 / 488 · Community Ventures Lab

Impact Studio

The community owns the project

Find a real need in a community you don't belong to, and serve it well enough to leave it stronger. You bring the tools and the discipline; the community keeps the long-term stake.

DiscoverDesignDevelopExecute
Enter the Impact Studio →
MGNT 291 · Founders Studio

Forge Studio

You own the venture

Find a need worth building a business around, and forge a venture that's yours. You define the mission, market, and model — you carry the risk, and you keep the reward.

DiscoverDesignModelValidateLaunch
Enter the Forge Studio →

One distinction shapes everything: in Impact the community owns the problem and you serve it; in Forge the venture is yours to build and to profit from. Same tools, same gates — different ownership.

How it fits together

One pathway through the curriculum

The studios don't stand alone. They sit inside a sequence: a course that gives you the foundations, the two studios where you build, and a course that takes the work further.

Foundation · before
MGNT 250

Innovation & Value Creation

Where you first learn to spot a real need and shape a value proposition. The natural on-ramp to either studio — though you can start cold: Tool 1 gives you everything you need to begin.

MGNT 288 / 488 · The studios

Impact Studio

Serve a community's problem — four phases, three tools, gated by evidence.
MGNT 291 · The studios

Forge Studio

Launch a venture that's yours — five phases, four tools, gated by evidence.
MGNT 250 → Impact 288/488  ·  Forge 291 → MGNT 370
The CLIMB way

What both studios share

Whichever studio you're in, the method is the same. It's why the two field guides feel like siblings — and why work moves between them.

◆

Real problems, real users

No hypotheticals. You work with actual people who have the problem, and you don't get to skip them.

▲

Learn by doing

Short, just-in-time teaching, then studio time. You build the thing while you learn the tool.

⚑

Gates cleared with evidence

You move forward by defending what's real to your instructor or mentor — not by ticking your own boxes.

📘

A field guide, not a lecture

Each studio has its own Field Guide — the tools, the gates, and a worked example you can hold up as the standard.

↻

Test before you build

Ideas are cheap; tested ideas are valuable. The cheapest test in front of a real person beats months of guessing.

◷

The studio model

You work alongside other teams at different stages, learning from those just ahead and teaching those just behind.

The people behind CLIMB

Your student team

CLIMB is led by students. Each studio has a lead mentor who knows the tools cold, and two coordinators serve the whole center — events and communication across both studios.

ANAva Niemeyer
Impact · Lead Mentor

Ava Niemeyer

Senior · Business Administration (Industrial Psychology minor)

Impact’s lead mentor — your first call when a project stalls, and your sounding board before a gate.

CSChase Slikkers
Forge · Lead Mentor

Chase Slikkers

Senior · Cyber Security (Economics minor)

Forge’s lead mentor — your first call when a venture gets stuck, and your sounding board before a gate.

GGGabriella Goncalves
Event Coordinator · CLIMB

Gabriella Goncalves

Sophomore · Human Capital Management

Coordinates CLIMB’s events — workshops, guest sessions, and studio gatherings across both studios.

DNDenisa Nazaret
Communication Coordinator · CLIMB

Denisa Nazaret

Sophomore · Business Administration (Marketing minor)

Keeps CLIMB connected — announcements, updates, and the word on what’s happening across both studios.

Everything in one place

Hubs & field guides

Jump into a studio hub, or go straight to a field guide. Keep these files in the same folder as this page so the links resolve.

The studio hubs

🌱

Impact Studio Hub

Home, the tools, a gate tracker, the project board, and resources — for MGNT 288/488.

Web · opens the hub
🔥

Forge Studio Hub

Home, the tools, a gate tracker, the venture board, and resources — for MGNT 291.

Web · opens the hub

Impact — Builder's Field Guide

📘

Word edition

The full workbook with every worksheet, the gates, and BridgeReady woven throughout.

Word · download
📄

Print edition

Print-ready PDF, including Annex A: the full BridgeReady worked example.

PDF · download
🌐

Web edition

Interactive guide with the animated journey, tool accordions, and gate boxes.

Web · opens in a new tab

Forge — Founder's Field Guide

📕

Word edition

The full founder's workbook with every worksheet, the gates, and the Pocket Lunch example.

Word · download
🌐

Web edition

Interactive founder's guide with the heat-spine journey and tool accordions.

Web · opens in a new tab