This post, by Christine Young, originally appeared in Intermountain Catholic and discusses the relationship between Judge Memorial and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the David Eccles School of Business.
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Judge Memorial Catholic High School teachers recognized that innovation is essential to their students’ future and launched the entrepreneurial experience of the Lassonde Institute into their curriculum in September.
The curriculum allows students an opportunity to expand their ideas, match their passions with a purpose, pitch their entrepreneurial ideas to the community for startup funding, enter innovative competitions, and explore the possibilities of entrepreneurship in high school and later as college students, said Pam Oles, JMCHS Lassonde coordinator and media specialist.
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is a nationally ranked hub for student entrepreneurs and innovators at the University of Utah and an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. The Lassonde Institute is for students who want to pursue educations and careers related to innovation, entrepreneurship and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
Anne Bastien, program manager with the Lassonde Institute, led the JMCHS program and teacher training, offered advice, ambassadors and speakers, said Oles. Dani Sloan, a technology specialist from the Utah Education Network, also led the program. The program is anchored by university students who served as Lassonde ambassadors along with Judge Memorial peer mentors.
JMCHS sought the Lassonde Institute because “Lassonde uses the same design thinking process that we teach the students; it is used by more than 100 universities that have entrepreneurial programs, such as MIT, Stanford University and the University of Portland Oles said.
Tim Brown, president/CEO of the design company IDEO, devised the fundamental design-thinking process JMCHS uses, which begins with a focus on the needs of users and customers.
“The human-centered strategy of the design thinking process is a way to help people improve their lives with the best solution or with options,” said Cole Preece, a JMCHS 2014 graduate, now at the University of Portland, who explained what innovation is and led the Judge community through the steps involved.
Two Innovation Days were held at JMCHS on Sept. 30 and Oct. 28. The first day consisted of videos and keynote speaker Dolly Caspien, a University of Utah Lassonde graduate; she inspired students to come up with ideas. They also heard from two former JMCHS students: Max Lamb (2010), and Preece.
Preece told the students that innovation requires teamwork.
Both Preece and Lamb are involved in the design-thinking process through their respective colleges. Lamb is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
The second Innovation Day involved two speakers from Midwest Commercial Interiors, one of whom was Sean Wright, a JMCHS alumnus; they emphasized the human-centered design process to solve problems.
Following the presentations the students worked on empathy in design, prototyping, pitching their ideas, filming their presentations and posting them to YouTube.
A few of the students’ ideas included Smoking and Health, lengthening the human life by inventing a chemical to help smokers escape the harmful state; Investing Hope, a website to help low-income families invest in the stock market; a Lazy-man’s Chair with a built-in alarm clock, remote refrigerator, recliner, trash can and recycle bin; and a bicycle with interchangeable frames to fit all consumers.
JMCHS senior Rachel Shubella participated in the innovation program as a student leader and mentor for freshmen. “The innovation consisted of activities that inspired students to think of ways to help the community,” Shubella said.
JMCHS senior Kepler Sticka-Jones served as a coach to assist teachers in leading groups of students. “We helped them understand innovation and innovate their ideas to make them feasible to sell,” he said.
Sticka-Jones was selected as a leader because last summer he was involved in a project at The Leonardo in conjunction with the Lassonde Institute. In both projects Sticka-Jones was asked to come up with an idea to solve a problem. “The process involved seeing the problem, coming up with a solution, finding a way to solve the solution, and team work,” he said. “The biggest problem we found was coming up with funding.”
“Being in charge of a class with a teacher and talking about innovation was a teachable moment for me because I learned how to speak in front of people and became a better mentor,” Sticka-Jones said. “I think going through the process of this program will help me in the future make pitches for the many ideas I have.”
Sticka-Jones, who would like to go into engineering, is seeking a group to work with him on wireless charging for phones and laptops to enter in the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, a statewide high school competition with more than $22,000 in prizes.