In February and March, 2018, STEM Pre-Academy held two special workshops on innovation and entrepreneurship for middle school students and teachers at the Manoa Innovation Center. The Think as an Entrepreneur workshops aimed to show participants how an entrepreneurial mindset can propel them toward finding resources and developing their ideas in any subject area.

The workshops focused on the identification of a product, service, or goal that is aligned with the passions and interests of the individual participant—student or teacher. With the problem identified and the goals clearly stated, a simple pitch is created and refined with a keen eye on audience and intent.

For the teachers involved in the workshop, those goals were multi-disciplinary and often focused on student outcomes and professional development.
By experiencing the process through which opportunities are identified and a pitch is developed, the teachers had a better understanding of how to bring the process to their students.

For the students, their own science fair projects were the focus.

The workshop gave the students tools to better identify their own passions, develop compelling ideas that solved particular problems, and perhaps most importantly, to effectively communicate their ideas to their peers, teachers, judges, or investors.

In Module 1, Dr. Harrell defines entrepreneur and innovation using examples from his own career.

Module 2 introduces you to the students (and teachers) that participated in the workshop. Each student shares their interests as well as the project they are working on – and for which they will craft their pitch.