Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School has formed a new partnership with BUILD, a college readiness program that keeps students at risk of dropping out of high school interested in school by providing entrepreneurship training. Ninety nine percent of the seniors in the BUILD program have graduated high school and been accepted into college. BUILD hosts programs in Boston, Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Recently, Sawyer Business School worked with BUILD to offer a three-day entrepreneurship boot camp for seven high school juniors. The boot camp was led by the director of Entrepreneurship programs at Sawyer and BUILD faculty member George Moker, with help from faculty and students at Sawyer. The high school students got real world consulting experience with Project Repat, a local company that takes customers’ used t-shirts and uses them to make a blanket for the customers.
The high school students first attended workshops at Sawyer to learn about problem solving, role-playing, and interviewing clients. After initial workshops, the students visited Project Repat to learn about how the business works. Finally, the students engaged in classroom discussions and workshops to develop ideas for Project Repat. In just three days, the high school juniors came up with a series of recommendations which interested Project Repat.
BUILD is delighted to work with Suffolk University students and professors because it gives their high school students the chance to see what college and graduate school are like. Suffolk’s Entrepreneurship honors society Sigma Nu Tau has been working with BUILD to mentor high school entrepreneurs since the spring, working with students three days a week to develop new business ideas. The three day workshop represents an attempt by Sawyer to expand its relationship with BUILD, a relationship that benefits local high school students and Sawyer business students alike.
