Launching Hopkins' Next Generation of Innovators & Entrepreneurs

Through a new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Pilot Program at Hopkins, students and faculty are collaborating with local businesses to create a mutually beneficial educational experience. The program centers around a three-week immersive partnership in which students research challenges identified by a local business owner. The students then develop a plan of action and present it to the company. 

 

“While you are not competing directly against your classmates, you might have visions of Shark Tank meets The Apprentice,” read an email from math teacher John Isaacs to students calling for applications to launch the first pilot last spring. “Are you interested in problem solving, growing a business, collaboration, leadership, research, marketing, technology, communications, public speaking, writing, or graphic design? If chosen, your commitment must be solid and your fortitude unwavering.”

 

While students do not receive grades or school credit for their participation in the pilot, interest was high and indicative of the self-starter, entrepreneurial mindset that permeates the classrooms at Hopkins. “The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep at Hopkins, and this program aims to cultivate and foster that passion,” Head of School Kai Bynum said. “Our students are extremely busy with coursework and extracurricular activities, but they are excited to make time for this initiative.”

 

In April 2019, the pilot’s first cohort of students and faculty partnered with SeeClickFix, a digital communications system company based in New Haven, founded by Ben Berkowitz ’97. The company runs a website and mobile app that assist users in communicating with local governments about non-emergency issues. The challenge presented to students was fitting: “Determine a way that SeeClickFix can capture, keep, and grow the youth market.”

 

Students wasted no time strategizing and designing a marketing plan targeted at engaging young people on the company’s digital platforms. When the dust settled, students emerged with two thoughtful and well-researched plans. One of the pitches, for example, revolved around the launch of a secondary app, SeeClickFix Student. The students designed and branded an interface for the app, and created an incentive-base system that provided digital “merit badges” based on app-related actions and engagements. The “civic points” that student users earn through their engagements would subsequently increase their rank on the app, from “Street Smart” to “Municipal Avenger” to “Community Hero.” Hopkins students also created a rollout plan for the new app, centered on engaging students through Instagram.

 

Samantha D’Errico ’20, who participated in the pilot, said she jumped at the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in the business world. “I improved my team building, time management, and public speaking skills during this class. I also was very happy to gain experience in the actual business world, which I do not think many high school students get the chance to do,” she said. 

 

Following three weeks of research and development, the students presented their work to Berkowitz during a meeting in the Weissman Room at Hopkins. Berkowitz was so impressed that he invited the students to present their work to his full team at the SeeClickFix offices. “The student teams that we worked with far exceeded our expectations of what could be presented by high school students in such a short period,” Berkowitz said. “The product and marketing insights presented allowed our team to think about the SeeClickFix platform in the context of high school students.”

 

Art teacher Derek Byron, one of the key architects behind the pilot program, has found great success in creating courses at Hopkins that involve collaboration with his colleagues in different disciplines. Previously, Byron helped launch the Design Engineering course at Hopkins, which involves an interdisciplinary partnership between the arts and science departments. To help get this most recent pilot program off the ground, Byron worked with Lisa Lamont, Director of Innovation and Learning, who helped facilitate the launch.

 

“Through these interdisciplinary initiatives, we have opportunities to engage all of our departments, leverage one another’s strengths, and come together to offer a unique and expansive experience for our students,” Byron said.

 

The inaugural pilot in April 2019 was co-taught by Emilie Harris, Isaacs, and Byron: a scientist, a mathematician, and an architect. An additional four faculty members—Ian Melchinger (English), Keri Mathews (mathematics and computer science), Richard Thornburg (history) and Sarah du Plessis (modern language)—will help facilitate two three-week partnerships in spring 2020. To prepare for leading this program, the aforementioned Hopkins faculty members recently attended the Korda Institute for Teaching to learn how to design educational experiences in which students solve problems impacting and involving their community. The real, unsolved problems provide meaningful work for students, which gives them the motivation to learn difficult things well.

 

The first spring 2020 cohort of Hopkins students will partner with MakeHaven, a nonprofit makerspace in New Haven. The business challenge will be unveiled to students at the start of their work in April. The second partnership, which will kick off once the MakeHaven partnership concludes, has yet to be determined. Isaacs said he and Byron are currently interviewing potential companies. Students in grades 11 and 12 are eligible to apply.

 

For the 2020 pilot, the participating companies have yet to be determined. Isaacs said, “Regardless of whether students want to start a company or not, being entrepreneurial will make a substantial addition to their professional growth,” Bynum said.

 

Gunnar DeSantis ’20 said the program gave him a better understanding of the range of problems entrepreneurs need to solve on their own, and the way to look at those problems in order to create efficient solutions. “Presenting to SeeClickFix was the best part,” he said, “because we really felt like we were addressing a real-world problem.” Marilla Yu ’20 added, “the pilot was unlike your typical Hopkins class. It provided me with unique problem-solving techniques and real-world business experience.”