Nov. 1, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Entrepreneurship classes prepare next generation of business-savvy youth
High School Students Receive College Credit in WVSU Program
INSTITUTE, W.Va.– They’re growing industry tycoons from the schoolyards in Wyoming County where the Youth Entrepreneurship Education Program is providing business education to students at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Wyoming County high school students are receiving college credit from West Virginia State University in a new youth entrepreneurship program being piloted in the region.
“Studies have shown that integrating entrepreneurship into our schools increases performance in all subject areas,” said Steve Clark, WVSU extension agent for Economic Development. “The impact on our school system would be significant and measurable. The impact on our economy would be tremendous.”
Entrepreneurship instruction is provided to fourth- and eighth-grade students, with an added career-planning track for eighth graders. An early-enrollment Introduction to Entrepreneurship course, providing college credit at WVSU, is being offered to high school students at two Wyoming County high schools.
“This project is allowing us to bring entrepreneurship into our schools and educate our youth not only about the option of creating a job as an alternative to getting a job, but also the entrepreneurial mindset,” said Clark. “Students learn that their future is their responsibility and that they have what it takes to succeed if they are willing to work hard and think entrepreneurially.”
Clark, who teaches the courses, is also launching an Entrepreneurship Club at one high school. The club will receive $1,000 in start-up funding for a business they will run for the year. Additional courses are being taught at the Wyoming County Career and Technical School covering business, personal finance and in-depth business planning. A $5,000 start-up loan will be offered to students in the planning course who have qualifying business plans.
WVSU Extension Service is partnering with the Department of Education, Wyoming County Schools and the Wyoming County Economic Development Authority on the pilot project, with the goal of expanding it into other counties.
West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi‐generational institution, located in Institute, WV. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.
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