Ideas bounce across the room as students brainstorm names, sketch logos, and calculate startup costs. Students in Business Incubator class step into the role of entrepreneurs, spending months transforming simple notebook ideas into concrete business plans, Mike Macfadden, Career and Technical Education (CTE) Teacher, said.
Founded in 2016, Business Incubator is an entrepreneurship course for sophomores, juniors, and seniors, Macfadden said. The class teaches students to build a marketable, profitable business by solving real-world issues and self-evaluating their concept by determining if they would buy it, Macfadden added.
“The goal is to give students an experiential learning environment where they are learning by doing,” Macfadden said.
Each year, the class guides cohorts of students to create detailed business plans and pitch them to a committee of business professionals to potentially receive funding, Macfadden said. This year’s showcase will occur on May 14 in the Student Activities Center. Winners can receive up to $5,000 for first place, $4,000 for second, and $3,000 for third.
“Instead of thinking about it as an academic exercise, you build a business that you present to your target market, gain feedback, and improve your idea,” Macfadden said. “The difference from a traditional business class is the emphasis on actually marketing your idea.”
Sophomore Chris Diaz, Business Incubator student, and his group created a fragrance company centered around Christianity, Diaz said. From developing packaging to designing the fragrances themselves, Diaz learned how to form a brand, plan business strategies, and prepare for his upcoming pitch to the committee, he added.
“At first, I wasn’t sure about fragrances, but I started getting more invested after I came up with the idea of faith-based fragrances centered around Christ,” Diaz said. “Each scent tells a different story.”
Through the class, students are exposed firsthand to the realities of starting a business, senior Samantha Urso, Business Incubator student, said. Urso and her group’s dedication paid off last year when they won $5,000 in funding for NailGenius, their nail kit business, she said. Seeing how much effort entrepreneurs put into their work inspired her to pursue business in her future, Urso added.
“Entrepreneurs all seem so passionate, and that’s what I value most about my future,” Urso said. “I really want to do something I care about.”
