Dan Shedd | CEO, Taylor Box Co.
1. Every year, you teach an enrichment program at Highlander Charter School. What was its catalyst? I was working with the Highlander Charter School administration for several years helping to raise money for building improvements and scholarships. During the fundraising efforts, I got to know Jeanne D’Agostino, director of development, who suggested developing a business immersion program called What is Business.
2. How old is the program, how many students are served and how long does it run? This year, 2018-19, will be our third year. What is Business usually attracts 12-15 students who attend the once-a-week sessions over eight to 10 weeks with a week’s vacation.
3. How is the program designed? The objective is to demystify … businesses and how they are successfully run. We discuss various types of businesses and forms of ownership, resources necessary to operate, organizational structure.
A few weeks into the program, students put their knowledge to work visiting local, partner businesses. CEOs … provide students an informative tour of their business and finalize the [trip] with a question-and-answer session. With each subsequent week of visits, students gain a higher level of knowledge and self-confidence apparent in their increasingly challenging and insightful questions.
The finale is a Shark Tank-style competition in which students pitch their business/product ideas to a panel of faculty and business owners. Winning ideas are awarded funding.
4. What feedback have students given you regarding the opportunity? After speaking with the faculty, we discovered first-year students were continually mentioning how interesting the program and their experiences were to other students.
In the second year, we had several return. As the program went on, energy built and students were [increasingly] engaged.
5. Do you plan to formalize the program and seek funding? There is always a need for better funding of nontraditional education … [and] we are happy to have the support of Bank Rhode Island. We are also grateful for the owners of many East Bay businesses – primarily manufacturing companies, which have been generous with their time and resources. Educators need to know … businesses are part of their community and ready to contribute to better prepare students for a successful future.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, Gowdey-backus@PBN.com.
