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They're workin' it out Mail Tribune / Steve Johnson Alex Vrtiska, left, a 1999 North Medford High School graduate, has painters like Tim Yates working for his all-student painting company this summer. The college students want to paint at least 30 homes this summer to cover their year�s school expenses. By Vicki Guarino He never painted a house before. And he never ran a business before. But with the help of a California-based college entrepreneurial company, Alex Vrtiska, a North Medford High School 1999 graduate, is busy this summer doing both. Vrtiska�s business signs, "College Works,�� are sprouting up in front of homes from Medford to Ashland. Vrtiska himself constantly solicits new customers as he cruises from house to house, checking his crews� progress and making sure they have everything they need to keep working. In a shady east Medford back yard, he plucks at the window tape. "You guys did a real good job papering this,�� Vrtiska tells his team. Then he turns to Tim Yates � hooded, masked and wielding a paint sprayer: "How�s that respirator working? "Once you can smell the paint, you need to change it.�� This is only summmertime work, but there is nothing laid back about Vrtiska, College Works or the college students he employs. His business goal is to earn enough so that everyone will have college expenses for the year covered by the end of the summer. That would be $100,000 gross for the enterprise, or 30 to 40 houses. So far, the company has completed 10 houses. Vrtiska�s house-painting effort began months ago, with a College Works interview at the University of Oregon. Vrtiska, 19, is a sophomore majoring in economics and political science. College Works awarded Vrtiska something akin to a franchise here. The company in essence hires managers, provides them with training, assistance and financial credit to set up accounts with local merchants. College Works mentors follow up with business support in everything from contracts to time sheets to advice on motivating employees. Managers like Vrtiska are expected to do the rest. Vrtiska began soliciting customers in March. "A lot of door-to-door, �Hi, my name is Alex,� �� Vrtiska recalls. Some people shooed him away. "And the dogs are always interesting,�� he adds diplomatically. But for the most part, he says, "people have been really nice. They�ve been really receptive.�� Receptive especially to Vrtiska�s business goal. "I want each of my friends to be able to pay for their entire school year this summer,�� he insists. Yates, a North Carolinian with some painting and construction experience, figures the goal is feasible. "I wouldn�t have come clean across the country if it weren�t,�� he says, ducking into his mask for another go at the back wall of the house. Yates is part of a small network of classmates and friends who have become Vrtiska�s employees. Vrtiska says he started calling on old North Medford classmates as soon as he got the College Works assignment. Yates happens to be a friend of a friend. He is one of six people Vrtiska has hired. For Vrtiska, the job is more than money and 70-hour work weeks. "I�ve sat in the classroom, wishing for a little more real-world experience. This is really expanding my horizons.�� Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA