COLUMBUS, Ohio—In July, GiveBackHack celebrated it’s fourth cohort of elementary entrepreneurs in GBH Kids—a partnership program with Columbus City Schools’ (CCS) Summer Experience Program and supported by CoverMyMeds and the Ingram-White Castle Foundation.
Nearly 200 students from across the district came to East Linden Elementary to hone their academic skills while building a business with their teachers and GBH facilitators. Finalists walked the red carpet on their way to pitching their businesses to friends and family as a part of Shark Tank Day.
Staying Sharp in Summer
In 2022, CCS approached GBH to develop the K-5 entrepreneurship pathway for their new Summer Experience program. We jumped at the opportunity to co-create the pathway. Like many summer programs forming across the country, it combined the expertise of CCS educators with GBH’s experience bringing entrepreneurship education to folks of all ages.
Since then, GBH has delivered over 200 hours of in-class entrepreneurship training and a curriculum with 10 hands-on lessons on brainstorming, advertising, pricing, and more.
Solving Problems with Business
For students at East Linden, starting a business wasn’t about becoming rich. Almost all students focused on creating unbeatable experiences for their customers and finding ways to solve their tricky problems.
One team of 3rd graders pitched “The Therapy Shop,” a place where people can go when they are feeling sad and find real-time support. Others prototyped a wheelchair for those with mobility challenges that includes an umbrella for shade and rain, and a phone holder for directions. And a kindergarten team created “Neighborhood Arguments,” a network of local mediators to settle disputes between neighbors.
These businesses aren’t just ideas either. Students learned how to research and test their concepts by interviewing with individuals who experience the problem in real life and building functional prototypes in class. Some built physical demonstrations, like the robot pictured below; others created interactive skits to show how their business can be useful.
“You Can’t Be What You Don’t See”
While some students have family members who’ve started businesses, many never cross paths with an entrepreneur. To expose students to the breadth of the field, GBH invited local entrepreneurs to East Linden to share their journey.
Some business owners like Lauren Sabo are attorneys building private practices. She talked with students about her decision to start something new in a field that is often seen as “traditional.” Others like Amanda Lorenzetti from Petals that Inspire shared ways she uses her business to help unhoused teenagers build work skills. All have a story to share with students.
Special Thanks
We couldn’t have ran this program without the generous support of CoverMyMeds and Ingram-White Castle Foundation. Their investment in improving educational outcomes for young people in Columbus made this program possible.
An additional thanks to our team of fantastic facilitators—Tyler Overton, Krista Faist, Candice Mims, Hannah Mosley, and Na’imah Campbell—and our wonderful coordinator, Debra Whittingham.
If you’re interested in bringing GBH Kids to your school, drop us a line.
