From STEM to Startup: Empowering High School Youth with Entrepreneurial Skills through the TYE program

Rowena Kay Mascarenhas; Adam B. Carter

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Conference: ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Spring Conference
Location: George Washington University, District of Columbia
Publication Date: April 19, 2024
Start Date: April 19, 2024
End Date: April 20, 2024
Page Count: 26
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45727
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45727
Download Count: 12

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Paper Authors

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Rowena Kay Mascarenhas TiE Boston

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Rowena Kay Mascarenhas is the Executive Director of TiE Boston, a mission-driven organization that fosters entrepreneurship. Rowena effectively steers multiple teams in implementing successful programs, crafting strategic frameworks, and influencing policy, thus demonstrating her commitment to fostering innovation and growth within the entrepreneurial community.

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biography

Adam B. Carter TiE Boston

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Adam is a global citizen that has been working in the education and non-profit industry on five continents for the past 25+ years. He holds degrees from University of Michigan (Honors, Cultural Anthropology), George Washington University's Elliott School (Masters, International Affairs) and Moreland University (Masters, Education). He was also a United Nations Fellow at UNHCR and Fulbright Scholar in Spain.

Adam is currently the Associate Program Director for TiE Boston's Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Academy, which is a transformative program that nurtures high school students' entrepreneurial spirit through workshops, mentorship, hands-on projects, and real-world experience, culminating in a final pitch competition, empowering them to become future leaders and innovators in the business landscape.

Before working with TiE Boston, Adam taught Literature and Social Studies as part of International Baccalaureate program in international schools in Egypt and China. He later served as the Academic Director of Daluojiepai, a private academy in Beijing, China.

Adam founded his own non-profit Cause & Affect Foundation in 2009, and has been delivering humanitarian assistance on 4 continents ever since, with current programs focusing on Ethiopia, Myanmar and Guatemala.

Adam's previous publications include San Fransisco Chronicle, Edutopia, The International Educator and Journal of Research in International Education (UK). He has spoken at several international conventions, such as the Qatar Leadership Conference, CEESA Conference, NESA Conference. He was also Keynote Speaker at Bill Clinton's School of Public Service, Valparaiso University and the Phi Beta Kappa Convention.

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Abstract

STEM fields rely heavily on innovation to solve complex problems and create new technologies. Entrepreneurship education nurtures students' ability to think creatively, identify opportunities, and develop innovative solutions, making them better equipped to tackle the challenges they will encounter in their engineering and STEM careers. It prepares them for future success by fostering innovation, building essential skills, promoting financial literacy, encouraging leadership, and addressing socioeconomic disparities.

The success of entrepreneurship in education has predominantly been examined through economic lenses such as increases in earnings or jobs created at the higher education level. In this paper, we report on the remarkable success of the TYE program and it’s empowerment of high school students through extracurricular entrepreneurship education outside the school system. The TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs) program was set up in 2005 in Boston and scaled to 30 different locales globally. Our paper will focus on how students in the age group of 16-18 yrs perceived this program and the reported positive outcomes it had for their future education and career prospects.

The TYE program is administered over eight months duration, through a combination of practical training, curriculum, and mentoring, by practitioners who are seasoned entrepreneurs. The program gives high school students the opportunity to form teams, build a real start-up, deliver a Pitch Deck with a Business Model Canvas and Business Plan Summary, as well as the opportunity to win seed funding for their startup. In our paper, we explore the impact of the TYE program, measured through the SEEQ tool (Student Evaluation of Educational Quality). In addition, we report on case studies of success stories, and develop a descriptive analysis of our findings.

Entrepreneurship education provides high school students with a diverse set of transferable skills that are essential for success in STEM fields. These include team work, problem-solving, confidence, collaboration, and technical skills such as financial literacy, communication, and leadership. Engineering projects require funding and budget management skills, and learning financial literacy, budgeting, fund raising, and investing, provide essential skills for project management. Entrepreneurship education empowers high school students to take initiative, pursue their ideas, and become leaders in their chosen fields. This mindset is particularly valuable in engineering and STEM professions, where individuals often need to take charge of projects, lead teams, and drive innovation.

In conclusion, the paper demonstrates that with the TYE supported entrepreneurial education and training, students report outcomes including their being influenced to pursue a career in STEM and/or start their own company. In addition, the companies the students sought to start were focused on value creation for other people. With engagement with a program such as TYE, high school students choosing the engineering field in college can apply their technical knowledge to develop practical solutions to societal challenges, create prototypes, and test their ideas in real-world settings, thus preparing them for careers where they can make a tangible impact, before they get to college itself.

Citation
Format

Mascarenhas, R. K., & Carter, A. B. (2024, April), From STEM to Startup: Empowering High School Youth with Entrepreneurial Skills through the TYE program Paper presented at ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Spring Conference, George Washington University, District of Columbia. 10.18260/1-2--45727

TY - CPAPER
AB - STEM fields rely heavily on innovation to solve complex problems and create new technologies. Entrepreneurship education nurtures students&#39; ability to think creatively, identify opportunities, and develop innovative solutions, making them better equipped to tackle the challenges they will encounter in their engineering and STEM careers. It prepares them for future success by fostering innovation, building essential skills, promoting financial literacy, encouraging leadership, and addressing socioeconomic disparities.

The success of entrepreneurship in education has predominantly been examined through economic lenses such as increases in earnings or jobs created at the higher education level. In this paper, we report on the remarkable success of the TYE program and it’s empowerment of high school students through extracurricular entrepreneurship education outside the school system. The TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs) program was set up in 2005 in Boston and scaled to 30 different locales globally. Our paper will focus on how students in the age group of 16-18 yrs perceived this program and the reported positive outcomes it had for their future education and career prospects.

The TYE program is administered over eight months duration, through a combination of practical training, curriculum, and mentoring, by practitioners who are seasoned entrepreneurs. The program gives high school students the opportunity to form teams, build a real start-up, deliver a Pitch Deck with a Business Model Canvas and Business Plan Summary, as well as the opportunity to win seed funding for their startup. In our paper, we explore the impact of the TYE program, measured through the SEEQ tool (Student Evaluation of Educational Quality). In addition, we report on case studies of success stories, and develop a descriptive analysis of our findings.

Entrepreneurship education provides high school students with a diverse set of transferable skills that are essential for success in STEM fields. These include team work, problem-solving, confidence, collaboration, and technical skills such as financial literacy, communication, and leadership. Engineering projects require funding and budget management skills, and learning financial literacy, budgeting, fund raising, and investing, provide essential skills for project management. Entrepreneurship education empowers high school students to take initiative, pursue their ideas, and become leaders in their chosen fields. This mindset is particularly valuable in engineering and STEM professions, where individuals often need to take charge of projects, lead teams, and drive innovation.

In conclusion, the paper demonstrates that with the TYE supported entrepreneurial education and training, students report outcomes including their being influenced to pursue a career in STEM and/or start their own company. In addition, the companies the students sought to start were focused on value creation for other people. With engagement with a program such as TYE, high school students choosing the engineering field in college can apply their technical knowledge to develop practical solutions to societal challenges, create prototypes, and test their ideas in real-world settings, thus preparing them for careers where they can make a tangible impact, before they get to college itself.
AU - Rowena Kay Mascarenhas
AU - Adam B. Carter
CY - George Washington University, District of Columbia
DA - 2024/04/19
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - From STEM to Startup: Empowering High School Youth with Entrepreneurial Skills through the TYE program
UR - https://peer.asee.org/45727
DO - 10.18260/1-2--45727
ER -