“ Despite all of these opportunities, it is still likely the majority of K-12 students will graduate without learning about the entrepreneurial opportunities available to them,” says Coulson.“ When middle school students think about career paths that will determine course selections in high school and college, entrepreneurship is seldom even a consideration. When they get to high school, where deep-dive learning about entrepreneurship may be available, few students take advantage. They don’ t know enough about it to determine if entrepreneurship is a good choice for them.”
Creating the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Through the support of an Appalachian Regional Commission( ARC) grant and matching funds from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, EntreEd is working to overcome this gap by bringing the Academic Entrepreneurial School( AES) designation to West Virginia.
Any school can earn the AES designation by delivering entrepreneurship education to every enrolled student during one school year. West Virginia schools with active AES designations include Arnoldsburg Elementary, Pleasant Hill Elementary and Calhoun County Middle / High in Calhoun County; Hamlin PreK-8, Guyandotte Middle, West Hamlin Elementary and Lincoln County High in Lincoln County; and North Elementary in Monongalia County. Gilmer County High School also had an AES designation in 2015-16.
“ When I introduced EntreEd, the teachers loved it,” says Tim Driscoll, former Calhoun County superintendent who joined the Hancock County Board of Education as superintendent in July.“ It was important that every child have some form of training and involvement in entrepreneurship education. The students were so engaged and captivated that it allowed them to enhance the core subjects. They saw it as an opportunity to apply what they learned to their businesses.”
Though firm about reaching every student, EntreEd is flexible as to how schools accomplish the goal. EntreEd recommends that schools first examine what they are already doing in their curriculum and extra-curricular activities. Examples include using entrepreneurship in elementary spelling lists and math lessons with product costs, profits and discounts; discussing intellectual property rights of new inventions; and designing a logo for a business.
“ In K-12, we have to relate education to how it can help create something that will make West Virginia better, stronger and more economically sound,” says Driscoll.“ When you turn these kids loose, they are amazing in what they come up with in terms of new ideas for businesses, services and how to help their communities. For the sake of our state, we need to prepare children in the beginning to think about other ways we can promote and grow our state.”
Investing in the Future
A $ 2.3 million ARC POWER grant awarded in 2016 is helping EntreEd expand the effort beyond the three original counties to schools in the coalfields across Appalachia, including Southern West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Though POWER grants are traditionally dedicated to putting unemployed coal miners to work in other fields, EntreEd saw an opportunity.
“ Even if all the unemployed adult miners were retrained and employed, there is still another generation of young people who would have gone to work in the mines and now need to be redirected into other opportunities, ideally ones that will allow them to stay in their communities,” says Coulson.
After reviewing the initial AES pilot in Calhoun, Gilmer and Lincoln counties, EntreEd determined the schools could be better served by resources already in their region and familiar with their communities. As a result, they identified community colleges to partner with the AES schools. BridgeValley Community and Technical College( CTC) will partner with all Clay County schools, New River CTC will partner with Webster County High School, and Southern West Virginia CTC is currently recruiting schools in McDowell and Mingo counties.
“ As the program expands, the childhood advice won’ t only be‘ go to college and get a good job,’” says Coulson.“ We will also let students know they can make their own jobs and support their families in their own communities.” •
Agriculture-Driven Entrepreneurship
By JoEllen Zacks
School gardens and agriculture programs are planting the seeds of entrepreneurship in West Virginia, giving students real-world experience, developing leadership and nurturing healthy lifestyles.
The West Virginia Department of Education has inventoried 136 school gardens but says the actual number could be larger as nature-based programs blossom around the state. One of the largest can be found at North Elementary School in Morgantown, which maintains 33 raised beds. Students choose what to plant and how to care for and harvest produce, and they sell products at the Morgantown Farmers Market.
“ Parents report that children ask to eat and grow their own vegetables and generally talk excitedly about their involvement in the garden,” says Laura VanHorn, kindergarten teacher and garden coordinator at North Elementary.“ As teachers, we see higher levels of engagement, richer vocabulary, a connection with the outdoors and a wonder about the natural world.”
At Mountaineer Montessori Middle School in Charleston, students run their own micro economy, which includes growing and selling produce. Micro economy activities are integrated into the school’ s curriculum, putting science, math, history and language lessons into a real-world context.
“ Entrepreneurship brings tangible work to what students are doing rather than just reading about it,” says Middle School Lead Guide Bridgett Steveson.
Lincoln County High School’ s awardwinning agriculture program offers many entrepreneurship opportunities. Students operate the school’ s greenhouse and high tunnels and bring products to market. They can also participate in a supervised agriculture experience in which they run their own enterprise such as raising and selling livestock.
In addition to making their own money, students enjoy seeing how their academic lessons relate to the real world.“ We are getting these students ready for careers,” says Seth Neal, an agriculture instructor and FFA advisor at the school.“ Students actually enjoy seeing how math, English, science and history play out in their career interest.”
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