In the News

In San Antonio, TX, an all-women team of Alamo Heights High School students realized one of the problems facing manufacturers of 3D printers was the procurement of raw materials available to make filament. After collaborative deliberation, the group founded FYDER Filament—a company poised to revolutionize sustainable materials sourcing in the 3D printing market. (Printable article here.)

A business incubator class Drake Roberts and Anthony Tamras took their senior year at Palatine High School gave them an idea, disrupted their college plans and changed their lives. Now, after five years of research and development, the 23-year-olds have turned that idea into a growing company that sells a compact, recyclable, plant-based air deodorizer called DeoBlock...

COVID led to an increase in student mental health struggles—but this group of students banded together to help their fellow students. In 2020, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing reported that one in six children under the age of 18 experiences a mental health disorder each year. The pandemic has drastically changed the lives of high schoolers as academic institutions shifted to online or hybrid learning, leading to increased feelings of anxiety, depression, and isolation.  (Printable article here.)

Who would have thought that an off-hand comment made during class would lead a group of high school kids to develop an app; launch a successful start-up; win $12,000 in a national “Shark Tank”-type pitch competition; and, most importantly, find a way to make older Americans feel less isolated, particularly in the era of COVID-19?

For years now, schools have spent time and resources on an aspect of education beyond academics: social and emotional well-being. Yet effective social/emotional programming at the high school level remains elusive, as administrators struggle to force a non-academic subject into a traditional high school model focused on college and career readiness.

However, we’re seeing that entrepreneurship programs can “flip the script” on anxiety...

Vista Ridge High School INCubatoredu 2020 National Pitch Winner, Walk-Thru, is featured in this news segment on KVUE in Austin. 

“Every time someone has a connotation of vegan in their minds, and then they taste our cookies, they’re like, ‘Man, this is good!’”

Carl Veus and Franko Cardozo, Nagen’s founders, are showing Southwest Florida how delicious dairy- and egg-free desserts can be with the bakery they cooked up while enrolled in the entrepreneurship program at Lorenzo Walker Technical College. Lorenzo Walker’s hands-on program helps students establish and expand on revenue-generating companies. Collier County Public Schools offers students entrepreneurship education in middle school and high school.

Franko Cardozo and Carl Veus, the founders of Nagen Vegan Bakery, worked with Project Graduation to distribute a two-pack of their cookies to every single graduate in the entire Lorenzo Walker Technical school system.

Some Barrington High School entrepreneurship students have learned how to deal with business curveballs that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead of an affair in Barrington High's auditorium where the finalists typically pitch their startup companies in a setting similar to ABC's "Shark Tank," this year's business incubator winners were announced in a Zoom teleconference Thursday. Three of the five finalists received a combined $20,500 in investments from private sources.

INCubatoredu Alum and U of I student, Mona Fang:  "It was something I saw that wasn't done right and I just thought, there has to be a new solution out there," she says.