Young Entrepreneur Institute Understand and experience entrepreneurship
Young Entrepreneur Institute at US University School’s Young Entrepreneur Institute was founded in 2006 to help students learn entrepreneurial skills, provide opportunities for students to experience entrepreneurship, connect with other Northeast Ohio students and entrepreneur organizations, and encourage young people to return to Northeast Ohio to pursue careers. Since the Institute’s founding, thousands of students have participated in one or more Young Entrepreneur Institute activities. In addition, hundreds of educators and schools across the region have benefited from the programs, materials and advice provided by the Institute.
Upper School Programs & Activities Anderson Scholars The Anderson Scholars Program, like a high school MBA, enables students to pursue a passion for business and entrepreneurship through an individualized program that connects course work with significant experiences outside the walls of the school. Anderson Scholars explore the world of business through coursework, extracurricular activities, and summer job experiences. The program culminates with each student starting or managing his own micro-business. NextGenVest NextGenVest Global Club at University School is a student-driven club for students interested in business, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. NextGenVest is a global social enterprise that prepares students with key financial and life skills through 3-minute video courses – from “How to Invest” to “How to Build a LinkedIn Profile.” All NextGenVest Courses are made by NextGenVest Clubs, which employ project-based learning techniques to research a topic and create a video course that is available for students world-wide. Student/School-based Businesses University School students have started a variety of businesses, including food, T-shirt, smartphone app, and jewelry companies. Our students have been featured in The Plain Dealer, The Huffington Post, Crain’s Cleveland Business, and Today’s Family Magazine as well as on the PBS shows Who’s Your Boss? and Neotropolis. Students also run the US Textbooks enterprise, which buys and sells used textbooks within the University School community, and the School Survival Kits business, which provides students with all the school supplies needed for a year at US.
Investment Committee The University School Student Investment Committee is comprised of a select group of students chosen to manage a portion of the University School investment portfolio. Student-run monthly meetings are held to review the portfolio and consider new investments.
Business/Entrepreneur Classes University School offers three elective classes to provide an understanding of business. Students can choose from two full-year courses: Microeconomics, essentially Entrepreneurship 101, and AP Economics, a traditional study of this social science. A half-year course, History of American Capitalism, teaches students about the evolution of business management and employee motivation.
Lunchtime Speaker Series Throughout the school year, local entrepreneurs visit the school to share stories, insights, and adviceabout being entrepreneurs. A theme is chosen each year – entrepreneurship and sports, or the arts, or technology, for example – so students hear many perspectives on an industry.
Summer Apprenticeships Funded by a grant from The Burton D. Morgan Foundation, University School provides select students with paid summer internships at local businesses. Students are paired with local entrepreneurs, are assigned strategic projects, and spend five weeks working full-time to observe the real-life experiences of business owners.
Lower School Programs Middle School Entrepreneur Club This club meets after school for eight weeks to teach middle school students the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Boys work individually or in teams to create a micro-business and get the chance to experience entrepreneurship by selling their creations at the Celebration of Youth Entrepreneurship evening event. L emonade D ay Students in 3 rd-5 th grades participate in Lemonade Day as an after-school club. A series of workshops helps US students prepare their lemonade stands and evaluate their results. Stock Market Challenge (See Competitions)
Young Entrepreneur Camps for Middle School Students Session I is geared to rising 7th-9th grade students with an interest in business. Through games, activities and guest speakers, campers will learn business and marketing strategies, teamwork, problem solving and leadership skills. Students will also develop and pitch ideas for businesses that they can start, and they will compete for an opportunity to win cash prizes or start-up loans (for students also participating in Session II) for their businesses. Session II is for Session I participants who have an interest in further developing their businesses and actually taking their products or services to a local venue towards the end of the week. In partnership with the Young Entrepreneur Institute, Session II will help students launch actual businesses and participate in real-world market experiences.
Competitions Entrepreneur Cup The Entrepreneur Cup competition helps students bring their business dreams to reality. While developing their own new business ideas, students attend workshops to enhance their entrepreneurial planning skills and learn the basics of writing business plans. The competition culminates in oral presentations before a panel of judges from the Cleveland business community. The winner of the US Entrepreneur Cup moves on to compete in various regional, state, and national competitions. Ja Titan Titan, an online business simulation from Junior Achievement, challenges students to apply their knowledge of business as they compete online in the highly competitive industry of the fictional Holo-Generator. Students enter decisions about price, production, marketing, capital investment, research and development, and charitable giving. The impact of their decisions will lead to the success or failure of each Holo-Generator company. Titan is used by high schools around the world. University School has been a top three finisher in regional and national Titan competitions.
Community-wide Programs Young Entrepreneur Institute works with schools and organizations throughout Northeast Ohio to promote entrepreneurship education at the K-12 grade levels. Programs include the Young Entrepreneur Market, Veale Youth Entrepreneurship Forum, Enspire educator conference, Lemonade Day, Celebration of Youth Entrepreneurship, and general consulting services. Over 5,000 students are impacted each year through the activities of Young Entrepreneur Institute.
Stock Market Challenge The Stock Market Challenge (SMC) is a web-based educational tool that is used by thousands of elementary, middle, and high school students around the country each semester to teach economics, finance, current events, math, social studies and technology. Each student team receives $100,000 of virtual dollars in an SMC brokerage account and simulates managing a portfolio by buying and selling stocks at real-time prices. Students compete for prizes and statewide bragging rights. This is one of the most popular business activities at US, with nearly 200 middle school and high school students participating each year. Tech Cup The Tech Cup is an extra-curricular activity for US students interested in the business of smartphone apps. Students, individually or as a team, create wireframe designs for their apps, written business plans – which include marketing and financial plans – and 10-minute oral presentations. A US faculty panel reviews the submissions and presentations and selects the top five finalists. A panel of local business and technology leaders judges the final round of the competition.
“ Having confidence but not in a rude way, communicating problems before they spiral into larger ones, and always listening and asking questions are a few of the important lessons I learned during my internship.” – Student, Class of 2017
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boys and I have been equally challenged on a number of assignments and thought problems.”
– Student, Class of 2016
– Parent, Class of 2015
“ So if you were to ask me what did I take away from all of this, I would tell you the main lesson is having GRIT. The will to keep striving for greatness and pushing on despite the odds.” – Student, Class of 2016
The University School Leadership Center In order to develop young people who aspire to make a difference in the world and in order to be well prepared for the 21st Century landscape, all students are nurtured to become leaders of themselves and then to embrace leadership for the benefit of the group or the collective goal.
The Leadership Center consists of the following programs: The Anderson Scholars Program Community and International Partnerships Community Engagement Young Entrepreneur Institute
For information : Contact Greg Malkin 216.831.2200 x7375 or gmalkin@us.edu www.us.edu www.youngentrepreneurinstitute.org www.facebook.com/entrepreneurinstitute.us www.twitter.com/youngeinstitute