Kent State students now have a new way to connect with entrepreneurs.

Blackstone LaunchPad opened Friday. The day opened with a variety of speakers including President Lester Lefton and Executive Director Julie Messing.

Messing said, “We look at putting together awareness events and entrepreneur workshops that just anybody can stop into and get a taste for it. They can learn a little bit about marketing or business or a little bit about fine tuning your idea.”

Blackstone launch pad is a place where students can get help with business ideas and connect with entrepreneurs. It had a soft launch this summer and already has 100 students involved. TV2 talked with Messing to get a clearer idea of Blackstone LaunchPad.

var so = new SWFObject(‘http://www.staterinteractive.com/player.swf’,’mpl’,’665′,’450′,’9′);

so.addParam(‘allowscriptaccess’,’always’);

so.addParam(‘allowfullscreen’,’true’);

so.addParam(‘flashvars’,’&file=9282012_Launchpad_SOT.flv&image=http://www.staterinteractive.com/photos/fall12/0131tv2.jpg&frontcolor=6666FF&lightcolor=EEEEEE&skin=http://www.staterinteractive.com/snel.swf&streamer=rtmp://flashmedia.kent.edu/fms-jmc/tv2′);

so.write(‘9282012_Launchpad_SOT’);