Miami University's Institute for Entrepreneurship has announced a partnership with an Illinois-based nonprofit that offers entrepreneurial education. The goal? To bring business courses to area high school students.
The nonprofit in question is Uncharted Learning, which established the INCubatoredu entrepreneurship program in 2013. Its goal was to help students learn business best practices by creating their own companies. In the six years of its existence, it has worked with more than 11,000 students and 120 schools, and will only increase that number when it debuts in the region.
“More and more we’re seeing high schools across the nation take on entrepreneurship courses as a means to engage students beyond standardized testing,” said Institute for Entrepreneurship Director Dr. Timothy Holcomb. “[INCubatoredu] really allows high schools in particular to teach students how to apply the technical skills they’re learning.”
The program's curriculum is similar to courses taught at Miami, where students engage in immersive, interdisciplinary lessons. They aim to build participants' creativity and problem-solving skills — those that will serve as a strong foundation for further learning in business classes after high school.
“We believe enhancing creativity and front-end innovation is critical for all students as early as possible," said Holcomb added. "So, instead of waiting for them to come to college, we are infusing our creative curriculum into INCubatoredu’s outstanding program."
The Uncharted Learning team echoed Miami's excitement over the collaboration.
“This partnership will help us augment our stack of programs from elementary to high school, which provides a pathway for students to progressively develop their entrepreneurial mindset to solve real challenges,” said Ashley Blackburn, its director of programs.
