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UTICA — Students at Stevenson and Henry Ford II high schools had the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship opportunities through SparkLab, an eight-week program designed to teach about creativity and business.
Through a partnership with SIGU Capital, of Royal Oak, and KMI Family Ventures, of Birmingham, SparkLab gives students hands-on experience in starting and building a business. This was a pilot program with Stevenson and Ford II, and SparkLab hopes to expand it, according to the district.
“One of the Spark Labs Founders is a Stevenson High School graduate and reached out to his former business teacher, Janet Gendelman, to help implement in UCS (Utica Community Schools),” UCS Public Relations coordinator Jennifer Kane said in an email.
Nate Guinane, SIGU Capital co-founder, explained how the program works.
“Students will pick a business idea — service or product — name it, build a logo and a marketing scheme,” Guinane said in a press release. “At the end everything will culminate to an eight-minute presentation, ‘Shark Tank’ style with judges.”
Students were split into groups to present their business plans to judges, in multiple rounds, in the hopes of winning a share of $15,000 in prizes.
The SparkLab curriculum provided over 40 on-demand video modules from 12 different subject matter experts to educate students on key areas of entrepreneurship, such as strategy, finance, marketing, leadership and storytelling. By the end of the course, students were expected to have a full business plan, branding package, operations strategy, financial projections and a compelling story.
“Our vision with SparkLab is to give students real-world experience at an earlier stage in life,” Guinane said in the press release. “It’s about more than just entrepreneurialism. It’s about opening their eyes to possibility, empowering them with tools, and building confidence in whatever path they choose.”
Approximately 300 students participated in the program, and their projects were focused on pitching the idea to the judges. There was no requirement to create a product or service that is ready to go to market.
“This project has been fun because we get to be creative while working as a team and it’s showing me how much thought goes into building and marketing a business,” Lia Raciti, Henry Ford II High School junior, said in an email. “I’ve learned that starting a business takes more planning and detail than I expected.”
For more information, visit uticak12.org.
