A Fresh Approach
Imagine a team of students who operate as a company and deal with such practical matters as budgets, deadlines, and the delivery of a product or solution. Envision a learning atmosphere where students wrestle with real-world problems and discover solutions by working together.
Michigan Tech's new High School Enterprise Program offers these opportunities. This program gets students out of the classroom and into teams—giving them a chance to manage long-term projects from inception to completion. They create a company name, mission, logo, and identity. They develop a project idea, define the scope, gain client approval, and tackle the work. At the end of the school year, they present their project at Michigan Tech's Undergraduate Expo, which showcases student work.
Through Enterprise, students begin to think and feel like professionals, and they own their education.
Goals
- Increase interest in STEM careers and expand the pathway into STEM
- Create an environment in high schools where STEM learning is authentic, engaging, rewarding and fun
- Expand STEM interest to underrepresented groups--women, minorities, rural, low-income, first generation college
- Cultivate a world-class and broadly inclusive science and technology workforce
Model
Videos
Click here to watch high school students working on their HSE projects.
News
Square One Education Network has honored Michigan Tech's High School Enterprise as a "model program" that is an example of "outstanding collaborative partnerships between K-12 education and postsecondary education." The award, "Winning Combination in Education," was bestowed Aug. 17 at the group's Synergy Summit 2011 in Ypsilanti. Last year Purdue University received the recognition. Click here to read the news story featured on Tech Today on August 18, 2011.
HSE Director, Doug Oppliger, was interviewed by Inside Michigan Education on March 17, 2009. Below is the screenshot from the Web site:
