Rochester program empowers teens to be the next generation of entrepreneurs
Inside a tucked-away building in the shadow of the Maven on South Broadway, a dozen Rochester Public Schools high schoolers spent their school year building their own businesses. Yes, it was for school credit, but this was no class project — the ideas are real, the businesses are real, and the funds they are raising are definitely real.
It's all part of the INCubatoredu program, an entrepreneurial-based class that challenges students to "find a problem in the world, and solve it." If they do, they could stand to win thousands of dollars from real, local investors. No other district in Minnesota offers the program, which is starting to take off after its inaugural year was derailed by Covid.
The first-ever pitch meeting was held right before the end of the school year, and $16,000 in funds were handed out to students. For this 50th edition of the Rundown, we sit down with two people that saw the work firsthand: Michael Hutchins and Bella Ostman, teacher and student inside the INCubatoredu program. We hear about their experiences throughout the year and how they have influenced them as people — and how it could affect the future of the students in the room.
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