Following the example set by the United Nations, more than 60 high school students brainstormed ambitious ways to improve the planet by earning free, transferable college credits this summer.
The students, from schools in South Jersey, filled the last class of the Think like an entrepreneur (TLAE), a three-credit program organized this year from June 26 to 28. The academy is headed by School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIE) in the Rohrer College of Business at Rowan University.
The annual program encourages students to develop entrepreneurial solutions to some of the planet’s toughest challenges, as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), including ending hunger and poverty, ensuring quality education and providing clean water and sanitation worldwide.
“This year, our program is operating similarly to a startup bootcamp,” said Jessica Vattima, deputy director of the Rowan Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship within SIE and faculty advisor to the TLAE program. “We challenge students to develop a solution in 72 hours.”
Sponsored by the TD Charitable Foundation, the program provides a taste of college while training students to think critically about the future of the planet and ways to improve it.
The program divided students into 10 groups who worked independently to solve critical problems through entrepreneurial techniques.
Business ideas developed during the course include FlareGuard, a monitor/wristband that, when connected to a computer or mobile app, would help improve health and well-being (UN SDG #3).
Jaden Jones, a junior at Atlantic County Institute of Technology, said FlareGuard will help reduce the number of people who become addicted to opioids after taking chronic pain medications.
“This would provide other ways to relieve pain, such as meditating or doing yoga,” Jones said.
Addison Springer, a final year student at Kingsway Regional High School, said her group’s idea, ‘Refresh Delivery’, would address the UN’s SDG 2, which is to end hunger , as well as SDG No. 12, which encourages responsible consumption and production, by providing unsold food products to low-income families from bakers and markets.
“It would be a subscription service to provide food that would otherwise be thrown away,” Springer said.
A third project, “Aqua Harvest,” would also address UN SDG #2 by creating hydroponic gardens for fresh fruits and vegetables in food deserts.
Kaylah White, a junior at Camden County Technical Schools, said her group is focusing on hydroponic gardening, in which plants are grown in nutrient-rich water rather than soil, because it can be a viable way to bring healthy foods to low-income neighborhoods. .
“I like to solve problems,” White said. “If I had money, I would make sure that everyone had enough to eat. »
On the final day, the students presented their ideas to a jury. This summer’s winner, Future workwould create an app connecting job seekers and employers.
During his eight years, TLAE awarded over 1,000 free credit hours.
