This summer, the University of Maryland R.H. Smith School of Business has served as host for middle school students in the Ashoka Youth Venture Program, helping students to think like an innovator as they venture out to change the world.
The Ashoka Youth Venture Program is sponsoring middle school students in a year-long project experience that will require them to focus on a cause they care about and develop real-world solutions that help support the cause. Such projects in the past have tackled issues such as homelessness, discrimination, and environmental issues.
To kickoff their year-long projects, the students began with a visit to College Park, MD and the Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) at UMD Smith. Through the workshop at the CSVC, students at the opportunity to figure out the causes that were important to them and begin to develop their passion into a project. Kirsten Craft, CSVC Program Manager, further helped students bring clarity to their projects with a facilitation exercise that could allow them to connect more deeply with their ideas.
As part of the program, the young entrepreneurs also had the chance to hear from two social entrepreneurs participating in TerpStartup, a summer incubator from the UMD Smith Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. Both entrepreneurs, 2B Founder Nina Silverstein and Annie’s Children Co-Founder Katie Arañas, shared their personal stories and then opened the floor for the students to ask questions.
“It was great to see so many young students eager to learn about social innovation,” Craft said in a UMD Smith press release. “Hopefully the students can take the lessons they’ve learned here, apply them to their projects and make an impact in the community.”