The Kentucky Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs, a highly competitive, startup accelerator-styled program that rotates annually to local universities, recently released the attendees list for its 2019 summer program taking place at Northern Kentucky University.
The selected 72 students will participate in the highly competitive program, which will work in tandem with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's Jumpstart Program at NKU. It lasts from June 23 to July 13, and students will get hands-on learning experience with a wide variety of topics, such as business plans, pitching to potential investors, startups and risk.
“NKU and the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati region is the perfect location for the GSE with our emphasis on nurturing talent, fostering innovation and enhancing community vibrancy,” said NKU President Ashish Vaidya in a release.
“Through our Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Jumpstart program, we have seen how introducing the startup mindset to high school students impacts them. It empowers these future leaders to foster innovation and inspire change. I’m proud NKU will have a role in exposing these students to the entrepreneurial way of thinking.”
The program, which received 300 applications, sought to find top high school students across the state of Kentucky. When NKU announced it would be the host school for 2019, CIE was an important reason. Housed in the Haile/U.S. Bank College of Business, the school is seeking to have a more profound impact on the region’s entrepreneurship.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to be immersed in a creative, real-world experience where they can develop the skills needed to develop and launch their own business,” Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Secretary Derrick K. Ramsey said in the release.
With the region’s entrepreneurship ecosystem in mind, and with programs, such as GSE, NKU recently announced its “Success by Design” program, which is a three-year strategy to help grow the university. The pillars set forth by the university — access, completion career, community engagement — are meant to help students develop positive lives, but also to help the region grow.
“The higher education landscape is changing as we speak. We must redefine and reclaim the narrative about the significance of a 21st century public institution and the value of a college education. This means not just understanding that our students have commitments and responsibilities off campus, but being responsive as the real world impacts their academic lives,” said NKU President Ashish Vaidya in a release.
“All the little things that we do as a university must add up to one feeling that supports our vision, and everyone on campus — from our faculty, staff and the administration — must embrace their role in achieving this.”
