March 2024 Newsletter
A Meaningful Winter Term Comes to a Close
This past week, the Innovation Center buzzed with energy and pride as students from all classes showcased their learnings, creations, and ideas, closing out the Winter Term.
Students in Discover explored their entrepreneurial mindsets and skills by learning about the factors that contribute to building a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to do this work, students implemented universal design principles. At the conclusion of Discover, students presented their top two problems and two business ideas in the form of a Gallery Walk, welcoming feedback from visitors, TPZ staff, and fellow students.
This term, students in the Ideate classes learned more about design thinking and utilized various design principles and elements to create and test low fidelity prototypes. The course concluded with students presenting their physical, digital, or service-related low fidelity prototypes to panels of volunteer Sharks. These executives and entrepreneurs then provided thoughtful feedback to the students.
Incubate students developed high fidelity prototypes of a product or service they previously explored during earlier Entrepreneurship (Eship) courses. Additionally, they built out their strategic business-planning briefs to assess the feasibility, viability, and desirability of their business ideas. During showcase-marketplaces, students shared their plans, design processes, and ways their entrepreneurial spirit evolved during their Eship experiences.
The Consult Class completed their work with Union Capital, a small and growing grassroots organization that requested advice and support on how best to market and message its tenth anniversary via social media. Two teams of TPZ students were asked to help build a social media campaign that Union Capital can use during the rest of 2024 to celebrate the milestone. Throughout the term, the teams conducted research, worked with their educators and client, and then each created interactive presentations describing a social media campaign that educated followers about Union Capital’s first decade of impact and its goals for the coming years. Our neighbors at Union Capital then selected a winning proposal to implement this spring.
Our Student Ambassadors also celebrated the conclusion of their experience. This newer program offered leadership opportunities for a cohort of returning TPZ students. Throughout the course, they developed leadership skills, such as public speaking, communication, and teamwork, and helped strengthen their confidence and self-esteem. The Ambassadors helped create a sense of community within the school day and afterschool programs, helping to connect with other students, build relationships, and create a sense of belonging.
Thank you to TPZ educators, volunteers, partners, and staff who made the Winter Term such a meaningful one for so many students! Congratulations to the TPZ Students!
Growth Mindset is Crucial–And Not Just for Kids
Jeremy Taylor, TPZ Chief Research & Evaluation Officer, writes, “Theory says that individuals with a growth mindset are more likely to embrace challenges, learn from criticism, and persist in the face of setbacks, seeing effort as the path to mastery.” Read the full article
Lifting Voices through An Engineering Mindset
, writes, “How can we make the things in our lives better and more inclusive? How can we co-create solutions to hard problems with diverse voices and perspectives (rather than retrofitting solutions)? How can we develop dynamic ecosystems that allow us to embrace circular economies and minimize waste and environmental impact? This, I learned, is the engineering spirit.” Read the full article
International Social Entrepreneurs Visit TPZ
This month, The Possible Zone (TPZ) hosted a visit by 14 social entrepreneurs from around the world along with their U.S. hosts, to learn about our programming, the TPZ student journey–from the Entrepreneurship classes through Ventures–our academic and industry partnerships, and the technology and tools we introduce to students. A consultant from Portugal said this was the best site visit to date on their three-week tour.
Sanctioned by the U.S. Department of State, the tour aimed to offer the visitors opportunities to: examine the role of social entrepreneurship in the U.S. and what makes social ventures sustainable, self-sufficient, and scalable; network with U.S. counterparts to discuss best practices and innovative approaches to social change in areas such as poverty alleviation and education; and assess the impact of strategic collaborations, youth initiatives, corporate social responsibility, and hybrid nonprofit/for-profit enterprises. Visitors hailed from Egypt, Lebanon, Romania, Taiwan, Thailand, Portugal, India, Nigeria, Iraq, Cuba, the Netherlands, Zimbabwe, and Switzerland.
Alumni Corner: April 18th Pathways to What’s Possible Event at TPZ
Alumni and friends are invited to join us for Pathways to What’s Possible, an evening for TPZ alumni to share their journeys, networks, and talent at TPZ’s Innovation Center. The April 18th event will feature reflections from TPZ alumni: Joandy Jean Baptiste, Osin Ghimire, Yaz Hossain, Sandro Lafontant, and Jessika Pun. There will be a brief spotlight on the exciting new TPZ Ventures initiative. And alumni-entrepreneur vendors and exhibitors will showcase and sell their products and services. These exhibitors include alumni Bernice Brutus, Jaleel Davis, Yvernson Francois, and Sean Hargove (along with Ventures-entrepreneurs Yari Dudley and Izzy Sealy). All will have time to network and socialize while enjoying delicious food created by Chef Dave of Chestnut Hill. Learn more and reserve your spot by April 12th.