Blue Ribbon Ideas Introduction to Entrepreneurship students take on a surprise challenge from athletic wear giant Nike. Jarrad Jinks follows their progress.
“It starts with an idea”—a common refrain for marketers, makers, writers and builders. The “idea” is at the heart of innovation and anyone who seeks to make an impact begins at that first step. The rise of startup culture and the emphasis on entrepreneurship has placed a high value on the “idea.” It was one such idea that seeded an exceptional opportunity for high school students in our Introduction to Entrepreneurship class and their second-semester project. Introduction to Entrepreneurship is an elective course for eleventh and twelfth-graders offered as a concurrent enrollment class with Syracuse University. Emily Bidle ’20 thinks back to why she joined the class initially, saying “I was inspired to join Mr. Cancella’s entrepreneurship class due to my fascination with social entrepreneurship. I feel that it is a great way to hone in on my passion and use my skill sets to improve society and the lives of others, while also being able to sustain my own life.” Modeling the entrepreneurial mindset he hopes to instill in the 19 students that signed up for this course’s first year at ASIJ, high school teacher Jason Cancella sought to offer authentic, project-
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THE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN JAPAN
based opportunities to develop and employ the skills relevant to entrepreneurship. “I want them to do entrepreneurship, not study it.” Cancella kept his ear to the ground and, on a campus teeming with opportunity, learned that Tobi Howe ’18 son of high school social studies teacher, Dale Howe (AP ’16–’18), had recently completed a summer internship with retail giant, Nike. Cancella recalls that the project Tobi navigated during his internship was very similar to what he aspired to do in his Introduction to Entrepreneurship class. Tobi introduced Cancella to Ron Sinha, Senior Manager of Consumer Direct Sciences, Eleonora Ferrero, Director of Nike.com and Nike App Business, and Mai Berger, Analyst of Consumer Direct Sciences, all working with Nike Japan, in August. Over the course of the next few months, they developed a plan with Cancella. In the lead-up to the Nike partnership, Cancella guided his students through three challenges to explore the nature and skills of entrepreneurship. The Young Founders Summit, a pitch contest led by a Singaporean organization called Smarter Me, challenged students to identify a problem, develop a solution of their own and create a three to five-minute pitch. Students shifted gears after