Babson Graduate Students Mentor Lowell High’s Entrepreneurship Students
Coffee, bagels and business plans were scattered across 32 workstations in Lowell High’s Little Theater last Thursday morning as 65 Babson graduate students and 175 Lowell entrepreneurship students came together for a day of coaching and idea generation.
All 240 students worked together to reach one common goal: to further their entrepreneurial journey. The Lowell High students are enrolled in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)’s course, which focuses on the entrepreneurial mindset, 21st century career-development skills and methods for starting a business. They each received valuable feedback on their business ideas and received instruction on how to recognize entrepreneurial opportunity all around them.
Babson/Lowell High Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship course
The Babson students – enrolled in the Masters of Science in Management in Entrepreneurial Leadership (MSEL) – had an opportunity to hone their skills coaching and mentoring young entrepreneurs on critical success factors such as identifying opportunity potential and developing successful business models.
Professor Sebastian Fixson, Babson MSEL program faculty director, commented “Many entrepreneurs spend most of their time convincing others to join their efforts, be they customers, employees, or financiers. A key skill to do this well is helping others to see the potential of an idea. A coaching situation is a great training ground to develop this skill – for both the coach and the student. We are grateful to NFTE and LHS for enabling this great learning experience.” For both groups, it was an experience of a lifetime.
“What a great event! Our students are so thankful and we can’t wait to host the Babson students again,” said Lowell High Headmaster Brian Martin.
Lowell student projects ranged from innovative approaches to helping students tackle anxiety to creative equipment solutions for soccer fanatics. They will spend the rest of their year completing their business plans and preparing for their business plan competition at the end of the project cycle.
“In my five plus years of running our entrepreneurship programs at high schools all over the region, this was one of the most impactful one-day events for both our NFTE students and our volunteers.” said Jennifer Green, Manager of Programs for NFTE New England.
With NFTE as the conduit, Lowell High and Babson College broke down barriers within the local entrepreneurial ecosystem to benefit students of all ages and entrepreneurs of all kinds.
Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) has taught and inspired more than 600,000 young people to pursue educational opportunities, start their own businesses, and succeed in life since our founding in 1987. By providing entrepreneurship education programs relevant to the real world, NFTE empowers students to own their education and future success. NFTE has programs in 23 locations and 10 countries. To learn more, like NFTE on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/NFTE, or follow us on Twitter at @NFTE.
Lowell High School was recognized in 1999 as one of the nation’s top urban high schools by U.S. News & World Report for our outstanding educational program. Today, LHS continues to provide a healthy blend of time-tested and innovative lessons in their classrooms, the latest in computer and media technology, and top-notch educational and sporting facilities in an effort to foster within its diverse students the skills and attitudes needed to be responsible, contributing members of a global society and lifelong learners.