What does it look like to invest in the process, not the business? Chris Straw has been a donor, a connector, and a champion for student entrepreneurship long before most people were paying attention. Read how a local pitch competition in DeKalb County grew into a statewide partnership.

What if students stopped asking "is this good enough?" and started asking "will this work?" Inside Debera Hinchy's entrepreneurship class, students are running a real business. See how the Red Devils Bistro is building confidence, resilience, and problem-solving skills through real responsibility and real stakes.

NOVA Lab students traveled to Drexel University, placed 2nd and 3rd at a fast-pitch competition, and launched a mentorship program with college entrepreneurs at Ursinus. In Texas, a homeschool cooperative turned a DND story about grief and monsters into a fully filmed shadow puppet production, built with power saws and a lot of heart.

Three schools came together for Southern Indiana's first-ever regional practice pitch event for students to build confidence and learn from each other. And at the University of Evansville's Changemaker Challenge, two Signature School teams placed 1st and 3rd, with a full-tuition scholarship on the line.

Two Westfield students saw a gap in their school's business programs and built a club to close it, and before the first meeting, 25 girls had already signed up. At Decatur Central, a first-year teaching duo ran a full two-day pitch competition for 36 seniors, and the students didn't want to stop when it was over.

A Hobart teacher took her message about purposeful leadership to a national stage and brought her daughter along for the moment. Meanwhile, engineering students at Hanover Central built real prototypes for their classmates' businesses, and solved a culinary teacher's plumbing problem along the way.

Entrepreneurship looks different when the teacher is taking risks too. Inside one Indianapolis microschool, students are building real ventures (and learning faster) because their teacher is right there in the process with them.

Our alumni continue to make incredible strides in healthcare innovation, education, and technology. Here are four inspiring updates from STARTedUP alumni who are building, learning, and leading in their communities and beyond!

Students in Pennsylvania tackled real-world challenges through design projects, social media learning, and an alum’s return to share global public health work. In Massachusetts, the approval of early college credit across multiple entrepreneurship sections highlighted the expanding reach of entrepreneurship education.

Students stepped into professional roles by catering events for community leaders, pitching public art initiatives, and refining business ideas through one-on-one mentorship.

Students moved ideas into action through rapid business launches and collaborative pitch practice. From a Westfield student entrepreneur building a real service business in under 30 days to a multi-school pitch event at 16Tech, students gained a bunch of confidence this month.

Students secured long-term opportunities through city partnerships and global exchange experiences. From sustaining a Building Trades program in Mishawaka to international learning tied to Japan, students engaged with both opportunity and reflection.

Students in Texas got hands-on with trade careers at a packed construction expo, while a Pennsylvania program doubled down on real industry partnerships and AI-driven sustainability projects showcased to regional leaders.

Finance students helped shape a student-led accounting movement and then proved their skills on stage at state conference competitions, while a former finalist returned to spark the next wave of ideas in her old classroom.

Students turned empathy into action by packing 125 global-impact shoeboxes, seniors launched into solution-building after a high-energy problem sprint, and a microschool entrepreneurship crew leveled up with mentors, podcasts, and bold new pitches.

A three-school PLTW showcase took students into real-world STEM collaboration, a student-powered innovation lab expanded its outreach and mentor network, and classrooms leaned into moon-shot thinking through grants, guest speakers, and bigger-than-school ideas.

Wish your students would stop clustering with friends and start making connections? Here are classroom-tested strategies to help them practice talking about their ideas, approach strangers with confidence, and build a support network that lasts beyond school.

A former student helps mothers in Sierra Leone share their stories, students build an AI bee apiary and partner with a major manufacturer to solve production challenges, and an educator testifies before state legislature, advocating for mandatory financial literacy education.

Students achieve a perfect pumpkin launch (a feat unseen since 2017) six teams pitch business ideas to local professionals in the Maverick Challenge, and young planners help reimagine a former hospital site to shape their city's future.

Students save $24k in equipment, work with naval engineers to turn plastic into fuel, tackle community infrastructure with garden projects and mural proposals, and six finalists prove their passion projects at a university pitch competition.