“This text-based Python course allows students to
be creative and think outside the box while learning
the most widely taught coding language.”
Since 2008, over 400 South Fayette High School students,
aka South Fayette Business Consultants, have been
providing authentic real-world problem solutions for All-Clad
Corporation. Originally an afterschool program, in 2012 the
high school administration made the decision to develop
a class called Innovation Studio to provide an opportunity
for students to take part in these school-to-business Project
Based Learning (PBL) initiatives during the school day. What
began as a STEM focused program has evolved to include
STEAM and STREAM (Arts and Research) and to align the
projects with various curriculum areas to include English,
math, economics, and the humanities.
In addition to this change and in South Fayette School
District’s tradition of regional outreach and inclusion,
Innovation Studio began developing partnerships with
regional high schools to offer this authentic PBL experience
to their students. These partnerships have extended to Mt.
Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and most recently to Peters Township
High School students and teachers.
On January 8, 2019, the Business Consultants from South
Fayette and Peters Township High School presented to
the All-Clad executives the solutions to the projects they
were assigned. Not only do these projects include district
partnerships, they provide an opportunity for co-curricular
learning which has shown significant success within SFSD. The
South Fayette Team combined students from Brian Garlick’s
and Tom Isaac’s Innovation Studio and James Hausman’s
Story Telling by Design English Classes for a unique co-
curricular experience that enhanced the outcome of the final
solutions. The Business Consultants utilized all aspects of the
success skills of communication, critical thinking, teamwork,
and creativity by combining their shared learning within both
classes.
Once again, the consultants exceeded the expectations
of their business partners as much of the focus of this years’
solutions related to areas of expertise for their generation,
i.e. , market differentiation, connectivity in cookware and
throughout the factory, unique sales approaches to attract
to a younger buyer, technology driven packaging assembly,
as well as new concepts to enhance the production line, and
suggestions for human resource engagement and retention
of millennial workers.
This years’ South Fayette Business Consultants Team
included Team Advisors, Jake Hanich and Sean Sutcavage;
Consultants, Lauren Arnowitt, Hailey Bair, Paige Becker,
Alexandra Biber, Payton Blunkosky, Anna Bradley, Aaron
Cardillo, Elise Fardo, Christian Gabriel, Olivia Goerdt,
Morgan Homer, Naishada Kotte, Zoe Koutavas, Steffanie
Kozak, Lily Krivonick, Amelia Lazzini, Liz McKeever, Jack
Passyn, Rithvik Raja, Michael Rose, Abhinav Srinivasan,
Varun Sundaram, Briana Tran, Anna Wilke, and Olivia Yoos.
South Fayette
Business Consultants
Successfully Continue
Annual Tradition