The Young Entrepreneur Academy, or YEA!, is a program for grades 6-12 where students design and create their own business, complete with market research, business plans, and investors. With YEA!, students will cultivate their own ideas into a real business, social movement, or non-profit, and have the opportunity to launch their program into their community.
YEA! students have been featured in the New York Times, Good Morning America, and Shark Tank, some creating multi-million dollar businesses. Out of the 4,000 who have already been a part of this program, 3,000 have gone on to be entrepreneurs. 75 locations have already formed across the country, and the 1st to Connecticut is coming this fall.
Jennifer Zinzi, Executive Director of the Connecticut branch, held a Press Conference on Wednesday to share details of this upcoming opportunity. Bobbi Jo Beers, Program Manager in Connecticut, First Seletman Rudy Marconi, Administrator for Early Childhood Education and Extended Learning at Danbury Public Schools, Anne Mead, and Ridgefield Public Schools Superintendent, Karen Baldwin were also among the attendees.
YEA! is a 30-week program, running out of WestConn in Danbury. YEA! will be open to students across Connecticut who are interested and passionate about entrepreneurship, selected for the program through an application you can fill out today. YEA! has impressive statistics: 99% of YEA! students enroll in college, and 56% of YEA! students are under served minorities, a fact that Zinzi says is a “very rewarding” component of the program.
The program will feature 8 guest speakers, 6 field trips to businesses and franchises, and mentors for each student, creating a very hands on, interactive experience. Bobbi Jo Beers, Program Manager in Connecticut, spoke to this, sharing that this would not be a lecture hall experience. Kids will be interacting with one another, with their work, and with their instructors 3 hours a week after school. The program will end with a pop-up shop of the students businesses, a mock investor panel awarding kids real money for their businesses, and scholarships on the table as well. YEA! does not just show kids how to create a business - they create a real, fully-functioning business with each student.
Every student who completes this program will walk away from it with both their own business, and a whole new set of skills in their toolbox. "YEA! creates a culture where students are okay with making mistakes,” said superintendent of Ridgefield schools, Dr. Karen Baldwin. She explains, "Students will learn that mistakes will happen and oftentimes will get you where you need to be."
Rudy Marconi, First Selectman of Ridgefield, spoke to this as well. He said that he is looking forward to seeing students creating their own ideas and figuring out how to make them tangible with the resilience this program will teach.
Anne Mead, Administrator for Early Childhood Education and Extended Learning at Danbury Public Schools, knows that YEA! will inspire children out of early childhood ready to take risks. "These businesses, started at an early age may help many students pay for college, erasing a lot of the college debt many millennials face," she said. Kids come into their own with YEA!, making innovation a mindset that permeates the area of the program.
The program costs $995 per student, but Beers makes it clear that no child that is qualified will be turned away from this program if they cannot pay the full fee.
An information session will be held for students and families on August 1st at WestConn at 6pm. You can read about a few successful YEA! students here.