In the News

...Perhaps most importantly, the new Innovation Hub will provide significant opportunities for local industry and community members to engage meaningfully with students both as mentors and partners. These authentic relationships between students and industry won’t be peripheral to the student’s experience in the Innovation Hub, they’ll be central to its design, which expands on the success of the district’s partnerships with the business community. We already have entrepreneurship education programs that are central to our career and technical education programs and its Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. These, in many ways, are the predecessor to the Innovation Hub.  Read more in SmartBrief.

One of Mundelein High School's Incubatoredu program startups, "Safe Sip," recently moved on as a finalist in the INCubatoredu National competition. Safe Sip, a drink-spiking detection product, is one of the top five Incubator startups in the country competing for this national honor. The Safe Sip startup was created by five senior girls at Mundelein High School. 

Rounding out its fifth year at Vandegrift, the Entrepreneurship/INCubatoredu program has grown to become one of the most popular course requests among students. Taught by teachers Erin Mathis and Erin Lucas, the course allows students to spearhead the creation of their own unique businesses, whilst incorporating vital knowledge of business management and marketing research. 

“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.

This fall, thousands of students at 196 high schools nationwide -- and even four high schools in Australia -- will start their own companies as part of a business incubator class launched nine years ago in Barrington.

How do high school students start their own businesses? This question echoes inside the minds of many budding teenage entrepreneurs with ambitious dreams and diligent spirits. Age, limited resources and other restrictions pose challenges to high schoolers. Despite these obstacles, seniors Rohan Gorti, Arin Jain and Zubin Khera did just that in their junior year. 

The Lakota West team – MatchedUp - is among five high school groups nationwide invited to travel to Chicago later this month to compete in the “INCubatoredu National Pitch” for thousands of dollars in start-up funding.

Looking for the next big thing? You may find it on the third floor of New Trier High School’s Winnetka campus.

Tucked in a corner classroom, teenaged minds are nurturing and workshopping business ideas in Startup U, an entrepreneurship class in the business education program.

The year-long class, which is led by Sara Burnett and Bob Bollweg, unites student groups and their ideas with mentors, members of the New Trier community who offer real-world experience as the students build and pitch their ideas.

Lewisville ISD's Career and Technical Education program had at least 878 students earning at least one industry-based certificate during the last academic year, according to an annual report presented Oct. 18 to the board of trustees.  Overall, students earned 1,989 industry-based certifications for the 2020-21 school year as well as more than 1,300 automobile certifications, according to the presentation...