In the News

On this episode of Getting Smart Podcast Victoria Andrews discusses student entrepreneurship with an awesome group from Frisco ISD. Tommy Thompson teaches Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Finance Classes, as well as the DECA sponsor in Frisco ISD. Before teaching he worked in the corporate world for 18 years, started his own business, and served as an industry volunteer in the INCubatoredu program at Centennial High School which he now teaches. 

Over the past two decades, there has been an increased interest in K–12 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs to meet the rising demand for talent in these growing sectors of the economy. So, it’s not surprising that STEM classrooms provide fertile ground for integrating 21st-century workforce skills like collaboration, communication, and critical thinking into the classroom.

An entrepreneurship program encouraged a group of students to brainstorm and power through a few roadblocks as they created an app for pet lovers...(Printable article here.)

Several years ago, when I was president of McDonald’s West Coast operations, I needed to meet with a Los Angeles area franchisee before heading back east to Chicago. My driver pulled into the parking lot, where a young African-American security guard was on duty. We nodded at each other — I’m certain I was wearing a suit — as I walked inside.

A few minutes later, the security guard approached the owner and me, prompting us to ask whether there was an issue outside. “No,” he said. “I just want to have a moment to speak to the gentleman here.” We chatted for a few minutes. He was probably in his mid-20s and had just recently returned from two tours of duty in Iraq.

“Thank you for talking to me,” he said. “It’s just that I haven’t seen anybody like you before” — meaning a Black man with a high-level position in corporate America and important enough to have someone drive him around while he worked. 

For about two hours each day, Heather Sayre’s room at Grove City High School is an incubator and a classroom.  Seniors participating in the second year of her Innovation and Entrepreneurship course...

It was 2017 when I first heard that a business incubator program was starting at my high school, Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park, TX. 
I was curious as to what this class could offer me. I decided I would give it a try.