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Young Americans was thrilled to partner with Boulder Prep High School, a Boulder Valley Charter School, to present our Founding Framework entrepreneurship curriculum to a group of their students.
It was a week off between blocks for the entire school, but those with a curiosity for entrepreneurship showed up for four long and intense days to go through the process of coming up with a business idea, building upon that idea, and then giving a business pitch on the last day.
Student bbusinesses
Gianna excelled during the first project of the class — rapid prototyping — to actually make a screen print example of her social awareness clothing company. She now has a Facebook page and a promise to contribute some of her proceeds to local non-profits. Daniel made a mini model of a solar power energy storage system. He then spent the week learning about solar energy storage and creating a company that would sell battery like cells that store solar energy; he wants to give them to communities in third world countries. Along with all the fundamentals of the course, like brainstorming, marketing, financing, competition, value proposition, business plans, and vocab, we had time for a guest speaker and a field trip.
Speakers and tours
Peter from Boulder Indoor Soccer came to tell about his exciting and challenging journey in entrepreneurship. He said it was long hours, big loans, and hard work but he loved going into work every day and being his own boss. He built a company on the belief that “soccer is not just a sport, but a significant part of life that further defines who we are human beings.” Peter also said he was willing to do whatever it took to fill the facility in the beginning; he even let dogs come use the indoor fields!
On Wednesday we took a fieldtrip to nearby Boulder-based company, Celestial Seasonings and learned about their humble beginnings. They attribute their success as a company to their valued and dedicated employees. We had time to try some of their new delicious products too! Acai Mango Zinger iced tea? Yum!
It was really impressive to see the pitches on the final day to understand how much these young people learned and how far they had come in their week long entrepreneurial adventure. Sage built upon his existing idea — skateboard wax — and is looking for places in Boulder to sell his handmade product. Mallory’s company wants to create an app where users can look at new and emerging art that also allows artists to sell their work. Way to go Boulder Prep students! We can’t wait to see how these businesses grow.
Want to hold an entrepreneurship class with your students? Write a comment below and we’ll follow up.
