This is not your typical high school — there are very few lectures, students write on walls, and the first class doesn’t start until 9:00 am — and when the inaugural class of 150 tenth graders graduate, they will be prepared to start and run their own businesses.
The Phillip J. Patiño School of Entrepreneurship, named after a local educator, is believed to be the only school of its kind in the U.S., set up specifically to train students to start their own businesses.
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The curriculum will teach basic courses through real-life experience. It aims to boost individuality and harness the creativity that comes from it into a future business model for each student.
Located in Fresno, California, its school year kicked off this week with “disorientation” — teachers are pushing students to find new ways of learning, like encouraging brainstorming sessions where kids write their ideas on glass walls and working in small groups rather than always in a classroom setting.
The whole experience is supposed to mimic a company — one of the reasons for the 9:00 am start time.
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Over the next three years, students will work with local business leaders and pitch their ideas to potential investors.
Some of the kids already have business plans in mind, like 15-year-old Guadalupe Depaz who wants to create a clothing line for short women like herself or Imani Purvis, a 10th grader who wants to open a dance studio.
(WATCH the Fresno Unified School District video and READ more in the Fresno Bee) — Photo: Fresno Unified School District video — Story tip: carilyn
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