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“I see quite a few people here that maybe are not familiar with what INCubatoredu is and how fortunate the Farmington High School and the school district is to have this,” she said. “I've said this many times, but I'm so proud. Farmington High School is the first school in the state of Missouri to have the program.

The solutions to the long-standing inequities female entrepreneurs face are equally complex. But one idea is emerging as a prime opportunity for all students, regardless of gender, to learn the skills needed to thrive in the modern economy. High school entrepreneurship education programs, such as the INCubatoredu classes I teach are a vehicle for propelling more young women into entrepreneurship and business leadership roles. This is especially important since more than half of Gen Z, people born after 1997, plan to start their own businesses at some point in their lives.

Entrepreneurship is a long, but rewarding, journey and it requires time, talent, financial resources, and community support to create success.  If I hadn’t taken note of these brothers during my early morning work outs, I would have missed out on discovering the incredible story of DeoBlock and how I could offer guidance and resources for these young entrepreneurs.

At this very moment, women across the United States are sitting on million-dollar ideas, like a product that fills a niche or a service that solves a unique challenge. And increasingly, women are turning those ideas into entrepreneurship opportunities. Women accounted for 49% of business startups in 2021, a 28% jump from two years earlier. 

High school students who partake in entrepreneurial experiences through a rigorous curriculum and who may dream of starting their own business can earn college credit while following their passion, thanks to a new partnership between Stuart School of Business at Illinois Institute of Technology and Uncharted Learning, a not-for-profit organization committed to providing authentic entrepreneurship experiences for students in school districts across the nation.

The popular television show "Shark Tank" made its way out of California and into a classroom at Lake Belton High School on Tuesday.

It's part of the INCubatoredu program the district offers to upperclassmen. It gives an authentic entrepreneurship experience, with the help of local business owners.

More than 40 students took the opportunity to deliver their business ideas to 22 different local business owners in a "Shark Tank" style pitch. The ideas included, apps, programs, and other services the students believe are needed in society.

Commah derived from an entrepreneurship course at Horace Mann High School in the North Fond du Lac School District called INCubatorEdu.

Kurt Wismer, lead learner for INCubatorEdu@nfdl, said as part of the course, students create a startup using the Lean Startup method.

“Our young entrepreneurs identify a problem, then work through the lean process, along with a small army of community business mentors and coaches to ideate, research, prototype, test and rapid-build their business solution,” he said.

November is National Entrepreneurship Month, which spotlights the importance of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. To mark the occasion, Whiteboard Advisors’ Kelly Branning, spoke with Mark Cuban about his visit to an entrepreneurship class, the importance of entrepreneurship education, and why students should embrace failure rather than fear it.

“This innovative program takes the student beyond a textbook and places them in a real-world experience that takes place over an entire school year. The curriculum is at such a high level that it is ranked as a dual-credit class and teaches the students concepts beyond what they’d receive in a masters-level class. After completion of the first year, the program was said to have succeeded beyond expectations. Now the program is in its second year, and it continues to change the lives of Farmington High School students. The Daily Journal/ Farmington Press proudly presents this year’s Citizen of the Year award to Christy Pierce.”