Entrepreneurs group ‘pushes boundaries’ for county youth
When Ryan Marshall of Havertown was looking to figure out a way to learn more about various careers to explore, and found that others wanted to meet real professionals as well, he decided to go to school, well not his regular school, but to Philadelphia Center for Advancing Entrepreneurs’ Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!). YEA! in its fifth year in the Philadelphia region transforms middle and high school students into business owners as part of a weekly entrepreneurship education class that will begin again this fall.
YEA! is a cutting-edge program that takes students ages 11 to 18 through the process of starting and launching a real business or social movement over the course of an academic year. By the end of the class, students own and operate fully-formed and functioning businesses, which may be carried on after their graduation from the program.
“My favorite part of the program is that it pushed my boundaries. I really learned how to treat the professional world and how to act within it,” says Ryan Marshall, Founder of Innovative Career Connections and a junior at Haverford High School.
“The Young Entrepreneurs Academy helps the Philadelphia Center for Advancing Entrepreneurs to fulfill its goal of supporting small business development in our community by training our future leaders and helping them to establish strong, lasting relationships with their hometown business community,” says Ellen Fisher, Executive Director of YEA!. “We are thrilled to have graduated 53 students who launched 43 businesses since we’ve launched the program. We’re also thrilled to have engaged 75 of local business leaders each year who have served as mentors, instructors and guides as a means of giving back to our community.”
“YEA! offers a unique model that helps bridge the business and academic communities together, while creating meaningful ties to the area for students. We are excited that YEA! will continue to make its mark in the Greater Philadelphia community,” says YEA! Founder and CEO Gayle Jagel. The program currently operates in more than a hundred communities all over the U.S and India., with the goal of expanding to every community across the country.
“YEA! aims to teach students at an early age how to make a job, not just take a job,” adds Fisher. “At a time when small business growth is declining in the U.S., young entrepreneurs with the right training can become a powerful force of innovative thinkers and even employers.”
During the 30-week commitment, students brainstorm and form their business ideas, make pitches to investors for startup funding, file their DBAs, and launch their own businesses or social movements. Mentors and local entrepreneurs across a variety of industries, such as graphic design, web development, law, accounting, retail, manufacturing, technology and more are invited to support the students throughout the hands-on curriculum as mentors, field trip hosts or guest lecturers.
“One of the interesting components of YEA! is the ‘behind the scenes’ knowledge that local business leaders are able to share with students. Community support strengthens the program, and the Academy strengthens the community,” says Michele Schina, President, Philadelphia Center for Advancing Entrepreneurs. The students also gain skills that they can apply to any field they choose to enter, and will have the foundation to become future leaders of their industries.”
YEA! was developed in 2004 at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., with support from the Kauffman Foundation.
• 100 percert of Academy graduates graduate high school on time and go to college
• 50 percent of YEA! students are female and 50% are male
• 56 percent of YEA! students are underrepresented minorities
• YEA! students have been awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships as a result of their involvement in YEA!
• 7,700 students nationwide have launched more than 5,100 real businesses in America
Upcoming Opportunities
YEA! classes are run by Philadelphia Center for Advancing Entrepreneurs and hosted at Cabrini University in Radnor from November to May.
YEA! will be hosting free information sessions on the Young Entrepreneurs Academy on Monday, Sept. 18th and Tuesday, Sept. 26 7 p.m. at Ludington Library in Bryn Mawr.
For information, visit yeaphiladelphia.org contact Ellen Fisher at efisher@yeaphiladelphia.org or call 215-628-3875.