District 303 To Debut New Entrepreneurship Program

ST. CHARLES, IL -- St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 is launching a new entrepreneurship program geared at providing students with "an authentic learning experience." The program will focus on everything from conceiving, developing, and launching a startup business, according to a District 303 news release. The program will be implemented in the fall of 2018 at both St. Charles East and St. Charles North high schools, and is a collaboration with Unchartered Learning, an innovative not-for-profit that develops unique programs for business/entrepreneurship education for K-12 students.

“We are thrilled to be bringing INCubatoredu to the St. Charles community. This is a unique opportunity for our school district to partner with community members to implement an authentic, hands-on entrepreneurship experience for our students and provide a unique start-up environment and exposure to
seasoned business professionals.” said Melissa Byrne, Associate Director of Curriculum.

INCubatoredu is a popular high school entrepreneurship course where student teams create new
product and service innovations. In the course, student teams compete to take business ideas from concept
to successful funding in an incubator environment designed to replicate real entrepreneurship challenges. In
the process, students are grounded in many of the critical skills vital for successful business building –
including collaboration, adaptability, critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving according to the news release.

“We are excited to have St. Charles Community Unit School District as part of the INCubatoredu
community and we look forward to delivering an excellent experience for students,” said Margarita Geleske, Co-Executive Director of Uncharted Learning. “Our programs are taught by a team of teachers, real- business mentors, and outside coaches drawn from local communities who help students learn the ins/outs of launching and managing a start-up business."

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