Frenship ISD offered a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) course, INCubatoredu, for the 2020-2021 academic year. This course is nationally recognized and designed to unite the business and education worlds. Students in the INCubatoredu course learn to identify a problem, develop a product, and present an elevator pitch to sell that product. Ultimately, students gain the educational experiences to become entrepreneurs.

During the 2020 fall semester, INCubatoredu students learned about the importance of the Business Model Canvas (BMC). The BMC walks entrepreneurs through the entire business process—from the customer problem to the solution to the solution’s revenue streams. The BMC is the foundation of the INCubatoredu curriculum.

Once students understood the importance of the BMC, they began looking for a problem to solve. With a problem identified, they began exploring creative solutions. But solutions were not fully developed without research. Students conducted primary and secondary research that helped uncover exactly what their target audience looks for in a product.

For the remainder of the school year, these students are focusing on building their product along with developing costs, marketing plans, and revenue streams. These are big projects to accomplish but they are not alone. Student groups are matched with community partners who are experts in the students’ fields of interest. These community partners mentor and provide guidance to the student groups. One student group mentioned that their community partner provided resources to help them complete building their product.

Scott Smith, INCubatoredu Teacher, asked the student groups to present their elevator pitch to the classroom. After each student group, Smith clapped and expressed his confidence in the group. “The progress I have seen in these students is tremendous. From where they were in the beginning to where they are today is amazing,” said Smith.

Erin Cooley, Frenship High School Senior, said that Smith often tells the class that passion is important. Cooley expressed that it is a passion for her project that drives her entrepreneurship.

The INCubatoredu students must complete a cost structure to receive materials for their project. Once they purchase their materials, these students will be hard at work to complete their product prototype. We will cover these students’ work once they complete their product prototype and perfect their elevator pitch.

INCubatoredu was made possible at Frenship ISD through a public-private partnership. Read the program announcement story here: https://www.frenship.net/apps/news/article/1151431.