Charter School Student Entrepreneurs Show Their Business Ventures

Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship opened its bordered to welcome new citizens during its annual MicroNight celebration. The student body is the economy. They run businesses, government, banks, and teacher-appointed courts, learn financial literacy and are held accountable for the maintenance and survival of the mini-society that is their school.

Every spring, the MicroNight event invites parents to become citizens. Family members experience what their children experience every day, and are able to exchange their real-world money for Penn Hills money, patronize local student run businesses and meet with government officials through MicroNight. This year's MicroNight was "City" themed, and all products and services were related to a specific, predetermined U.S. city.

Penn Hills utilizes a unique educational model known as MicroSociety - the only school of its kind in the city and one of only a few in PA. While a standard school has several different subjects being taught to students separately all day, Penn Hills integrates a unique, cross-curricular way of teaching and learning. The program allows the schools to exist more as an independent society than as a traditional learning institution, while still teaching all of its students the necessary skills.