Entrepreneurial spirit means you could, you can, you are!
As a high school student, Entrepreneurship (Eship) can be a powerful vehicle for not just your learning, but for helping you become all that you want to be. Entrepreneurial Culture & Spirit are at the heart of our program. Throughout TPZ’s hands-on Entrepreneurship–or Eship–program, you’ll build a strong entrepreneurial spirit. You’ll earn design thinking and you’ll implement universal design principles to create low-fidelity prototypes connected to a product or service you’d like to develop, as a project or as a real business. Here, you’ll test business models, and over the course of three terms, network with professional entrepreneurs. And if you take part in our work-based learning activities, you’ll have the opportunity to experience on-the-job skill-building through internships and relationships with local businesses.
Along your journey at TPZ, you will have the opportunity to explore STEAM-focused electives—learning about robotics and AI, graphic design, 3D printing, laser cutting, coding, and more. And throughout your time with us, you will receive support to promote your well-being—from daily stipends and meals, to enrichment experiences and resources for you or your family.
Additionally, as a TPZ high school student, you’ll have the chance to work with young adult entrepreneurs in our Ventures program. There, you can explore a complementary pathway to higher education, learn product management, digital marketing, and e-commerce.
- Afterschool Eship classes are offered twice each week, from 4:00-6:30 at the Innovation Center.
- School-day classes are scheduled with participating BPS schools, usually two days/week.
- Courses are generally ten weeks long.
EShip Programs
Discover
In Discover, you’ll explore your entrepreneurial mindsets and skills by learning about the factors that contribute to building a strong entrepreneurial spirit. You will actively seek problems that may not yet be addressed and learn from other entrepreneurs. Gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to do this work, you and other students will implement universal design principles. At the conclusion of Discover, you’ll present your top two problems and two business ideas in the form of a Gallery Walk, welcoming feedback from an external audience.
Ideate
During Ideate, you’ll engage in solution-finding for the top two problems identified during the Discover course. Here, you’ll learn more about design thinking and utilize various design principles and design elements to create low fidelity prototypes connected to the problems you identified. You’ll develop and conduct prototype tests to better understand your product/service’s functionality and how users experience your product/service. At the conclusion of Ideate, you will create and present physical, digital, or service-related low fidelity prototypes to an external audience. You’ll explain how prototype/s solves your identified problem, how you used data and feedback to iterate on the design. You may select one prototype/solution you’d would like to continue to explore in future modules.
Incubate
During Incubate, you’ll continue to use design thinking to develop a high fidelity prototype of the product/service previously explored during earlier Eship courses. Additionally, you’ll build on the lean canvas business model—a strategic business planning brief— to assess the feasibility, viability, and desirability of your business idea. Using your experience in Discover and Ideate, you’ll also have the opportunity to develop and share a pitch that highlights your business and idea development over the course of the three semesters. At the conclusion of Incubate, you and other students create and share pitches using lean canvas models as a guide that showcases your business ideas. You’ll explain how you identified the problem space, share how you made informed decisions around the solution—the product or service design. You’ll also describe how your own entrepreneurial spirit has evolved during the Entrepreneurship experience.