Leander ISD students have the opportunity to become entrepreneurs before they even enter high school, and as a result of the programs and mentoring opportunities available on LISD campuses, many students have gone on to establish businesses before graduating from high school and heading off to college.
The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Business, Marketing and Finance Cluster offers several programs for students interested in a business, marketing or finance-oriented career: Accounting and Financial Services, Business Management, Entrepreneurship, INCubatoredu, ACCELeratoredu, and Marketing and Sales.
All of these programs are oriented around projects and hands-on experience in the field, rather than simply learning concepts for a test.
“We get to do a lot more projects and we have a lot more freedom to do our projects, and we really get to experience it as if we’re not really in a school setting, but out in the real world,” Gabrielle Thomas, a Glenn High School graduate, said.
Students in entrepreneurship classes learn about the various components of a business, from working through financial aspects to identifying a target market. The INCubator program offers a unique experience for business and entrepreneurship students to build a real business of their own and receive mentorship throughout the process.
“INCubator has taught us that there’s still opportunities to be had, there’s still opportunities to be made,” University of Texas Student and Vista Ridge High School Alumni Nicholas Cooper Jr. said. “You can still get out there and do what you want to do and define yourself.”
CTE INCubator/ACCELerator Department Head Dana Jones said that students in the Incubator program are exposed to a variety of opportunities – they can interact with the IRS, open bank accounts and form an LLC, and have meetings and conduct themselves with business professionals.
“Every time I talk to anybody who has a kid coming into high school or even in high school, I’m like, you have got to get them into the INCubator program,” Cooper said. “It’s life changing.”
Hear directly from students and learn more about business, marketing and finance programs in Leander ISD by watching the videos below.
