Hi Franz,
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has an entrepreneurship initiative that includes supporting high school and other educational programs. Among the programs they have helped is the entrepreneruship program at Walhalla High School in South Carolina. WHS offers at least two courses in entrepreneurship to its students and sponsors a student group called SAGE (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship).
Here's a summary from ARC's website (although it's a bit outdated):
Walhalla High School
Walhalla, South Carolina
Harriett Templin, Entrepreneurship Director
The Walhalla High School Entrepreneurship program promotes a climate for idea generation that leads to and connects with opportunity recognition. The program was begun in 1998 and now enrolls 48 students; in fact, 26 students were turned down in 2001 due to lack of an available period to teach the class! This year, over 40 new student businesses were created in the entrepreneurship program. One student business, Marketplace Restaurant, is now in its third year of operation, and five other student businesses have been operating for multiple years, including a goat farm and a produce stand.
The program has two course components. In Entrepreneurship I, students are engaged in higher-order thinking activities and are challenged to "think out of the box." In Entrepreneurship II, students as a class develop a school-based business.
In Entrepreneurship I, students develop an Entrepreneurship Ledger to reflect their growing knowledge base. They research famous and local entrepreneurs, and identify entrepreneurial characteristics. Students develop a business idea and work alone or in groups to create a Business Venture Portfolio. Students present this Business Venture Portfolio to an EntreBoard, a community-based panel that interviews the student, views the portfolio, and determines whether the EntreBoard will provide resources to back the venture.
In Entrepreneurship II, students develop a school-based business as a class. Students are divided into committees to research all aspects of opening and operating a business: market survey, securing capital, bookkeeping, pricing, and inventory control. The business opens only after all research and planning are complete. The business is evaluated each week by the class; problems are addressed and necessary changes made.
Walhalla High School is committed to entrepreneurship; it builds success among disenfranchised students, especially females from low-income families. Entrepreneurship is a great leveler; students from all programs work together, including those from honors programs, technical programs, college prep programs, ESL programs, exchange programs, and programs for students with learning disabilities.
An entrepreneurship component is now taught to all 9th grade students, introducing them to entrepreneurial thinking as soon as they arrive on the high school campus. Seven high school teachers have been trained in the tenets of entrepreneurship, and all three area elementary schools have been assisted in adding entrepreneurship as a component of their social studies curriculum.
I hope this helps!
Larry Plummer
Clemson University
From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:
ENTREP@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Marino, Louis
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 11:42 AM
To:
ENTREP@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: Re: [ENTREP] Entrepreneurship and life skills training for high school students
Greetings Franz,
At the University of Alabama we have several programs that reach out to high school students. The most notable is the REAL program (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning) which targets students in economically disadvantaged rural areas (http://communityaffairs.ua.edu/real.html). It is part of the larger program that covers 12 states and is currently tied into the Corporation for Economic Development (www.cfed.org) and the curriculum includes entrepreneurship, as well as broader skills. Separate from REAL we also host a high school business plan competition and are developing a summer skills workshop for students from economically disadvantaged areas. If you would like any additional information on these programs, please just let me know.
Best Regards,
Lou
Lou Marino
Frank Mason C&BA Faculty Fellow in Family Business
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy
University of Alabama
Department of Management and Marketing
Box 870225
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0225
(205) 348-8946 (Phone)
(205) 348-6695 (Fax)
From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:
ENTREP@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Lohrke, Franz T.
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 6:39 AM
To:
ENTREP@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: [ENTREP] Entrepreneurship and life skills training for high school students
Hello All:
A member of my local community approached me recently and asked if I was familiar with any programs for providing high school students with entrepreneurship training. Although I am familiar with some high school entrepreneurship programs (e.g., Kauffmann, NFIB), and I have been involved in redesigning and teaching our freshman World of Business class to include a preliminary business plan, I have not been directly involved with this type of program at the high school level.
Thus, I wanted to ask members of the ENT listserv about their experiences working in this type of program with this age group. I would greatly appreciate anything you would like to relate on- or off-line, and I would be happy to compile responses for the listserv, if interest exists.
In my particular case, the request goes beyond just teaching high school students how to write business plans. The audience will be students from predominantly educationally and, in some cases, economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and the focus will include not only entrepreneurship issues (e.g., starting a business), but business and life skills (e.g., successful interviewing techniques).
Any insights or suggestions you can provide would be most appreciated.
Best regards,
Franz Lohrke
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Franz T. Lohrke
Chair, Department of Management & Marketing
and Entrepreneurship Programs Coordinator
301 DBH
Brock School of Business
Samford University
800 Lakeshore Drive
Birmingham, AL 35229
Office: (205) 726-2373
Fax: (205) 726-2464
http:
www.samford.edu/~ftlohrke
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch
jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!
************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch
jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!
**************************************
This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.
Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.
You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1
If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch
jbunch@benedictine.edu.
Ventures HO!