June 25, 2019
Young Innovation hits the COB
Interim ECU Chancellor Dan Gerlach listens to two high school students pitch their business idea at the second annual Summer Innovation Academy.
For the second year in a row, the College of Business (COB) and the Miller School of Entrepreneurship introduced area, high school students to what it takes to become an entrepreneur.
That’s one of the goals of the Miller School’s second annual Summer Innovation Academy, a free and weeklong program where area students from Pitt, Beaufort and Lenoir counties spent five days immersed in the entrepreneurial lifecycle.
“This is the second summer academy hosted by the Miller School, and both groups of students have shown a great deal of creativity and appreciation for innovation’s role in helping solve local and global problems,” said Dr. Mike Harris, director of the Miller School. “This year’s students were particularly impressive regarding their diversity and the maturity of their ideas.”
“I believe we have some emerging entrepreneurs in this class who will eventually launch new ventures,” Harris added. “They openly talked about a desire to become job creators.”
Encouraging Entrepreneurs
Academy attendees were taught by organizer Corey Pulido, an instructor in the Miller School, and Carlyle Rogers, an ECU licensing associate. Miller School students also served as mentors throughout the academy and answered questions from the attendees.
Like last year, students were required to come prepared with an idea on the first day of the academy. They then devoted time to the ideation process where they learned how to discern whether or not their idea had any merit. During the academy, students fleshed out and presented their ideas to fellow academy attendees. They also participated in exercises, such as volleyball that taught chosen team captains how to construct a proper team to support their idea development.
“One of the core themes for this year’s academy was teamwork,” said Pulido. “During the week, we had guest speakers share their entrepreneurial journey, and without question, they always expressed the importance of having a solid team in place. Surrounding yourself with like-minded and qualified individuals is quintessential to the skill sets of an entrepreneur,” said Pulido.
Additional academy activities focused on finances and marketing. The academy closed with a trade show style event where student teams introduced their ideas, otherwise known as pitching, to invited trade show attendees that represented ECU and the COB, as well as area high school teachers and members of the community.
PerfectlyMe
At the Academy, Brena Gauland and Tequila Jones, both from JH Rose high school, worked on a concept called PerfectlyMe, which is a nonprofit aimed at helping female students address bullying and encouraging empowerment. Coming into the academy, both knew they wanted to take their ideas for a company/enterprise and make them a reality, but they needed to know how.
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- Brena Gauland
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- Tequila Jones
“It doesn’t hurt to learn from other people and get the critique of what you can do to make it (business idea) better,” said Jones.
Added Gauland, “my dream is to make the world a better place. I came to this camp to learn how to launch a nonprofit.”
“ECU is making a concerted effort to recruit the most creative high school students in our region,” said Harris. “If someone is interested in innovation and entrepreneurship, we want ECU to become their destination school.”
“The Miller School will offer a new BS in Entrepreneurship degree this fall, and internahips are available to connect students with entrepreneurial opportunities throughout eastern North Carolina,” added Harris.
Dr. Mark Stacy, dean of Brody School of Medicine, pictured with Summer Innovation Academy attendees and faculty.
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