In the News

A Marian Central Business Club member has created a new product.
“Senior Matt Cotting, who plans to study aerospace design and technology in college, is our resident 3-D printing guru,” teacher Joe White said. “He first honed his 3-D printing abilities in our INCubatoredu entrepreneur class while he was a sophomore. He really loves all that the 3-D printer can do and has designs in TinkerCAD.”

Farmington High School this year began an innovative business program this year to help juniors and seniors start their own businesses.

Business instructor Christy Pierce launched the INCubatoredu curriculum with 12 students.

Just as they were born into a world with easily accessible technology (and cannot conceive otherwise), members of Generation Z have only known a climate in crisis. From day one, these young people have had to consider the future of a planet threatened by the actions and inactions of humans. For them, the question isn’t if they will see the effects of climate change, but when, and whether they can take steps today that will lessen the impact of this environmental upheaval tomorrow.

Lewisville ISD's Career and Technical Education program had at least 878 students earning at least one industry-based certificate during the last academic year, according to an annual report presented Oct. 18 to the board of trustees.  Overall, students earned 1,989 industry-based certifications for the 2020-21 school year as well as more than 1,300 automobile certifications, according to the presentation...

An entrepreneurship program encouraged a group of students to brainstorm and power through a few roadblocks as they created an app for pet lovers...(Printable article here.)

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.)

When I think about the future of postsecondary education, I am immediately drawn to the experiences of my middle-school boys, who want to know the ‘why’ behind everything they are learning in school. While I thought the repeated barrage of questions was initially no different than me asking my own parents ‘why’ I needed to learn algebra, I have learned that their ‘why’ questions are rooted in wanting to better understand the application of learning to something they are doing right now—not in the future. They want to know how what they are learning can be applied today to address a challenge or question.

Not everyone with an idea gets funding from the wealthy entrepreneurs on the TV show “Shark Tank.” It doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great idea, however.  After all, from those appearances come strong connections...