High school students can plug into Student Entrepreneurial Experience

Thursday, June 7, 2012, By News Staff

Students aren’t waiting to graduate from college before starting a business. And now Central New York students who aren’t waiting to graduate from high school before starting their business have the opportunity to plug into 鶹ƵUniversity’s ().

“There’s extraordinary talent and many good ideas coming from students in our high schools, and we want to take that passion and help it grow,” says Bob Herz, director of the South Side Innovation Center. “The Student Entrepreneurial Experience is a continuous program for young people, from high school through college and post-college, including those not going to college. It provides ongoing counseling, networking and incubator office space. There is nothing like it in the Central New York area.”

The SEE program will start with a weeklong bootcamp, July 23-27, to provide entrepreneurship training and mentoring to sophomore, junior and senior high school students in an intensive immersion program at the South Side Innovation Center. The inaugural bootcamp is focused on energy and green tech/clean tech opportunities. Activities include instruction on writing a business plan, how to run a business, money management, and lessons learned from current college student and younger entrepreneurs at the South Side Innovation Center. The week will culminate with a business plan competition on Friday, in which each member of the winning team will receive a $500 gift certificate.

After the bootcamp, the high school students will be invited to entrepreneurship activities on the 鶹ƵUniversity and Onondaga Community College campuses, and can take entrepreneurship courses in their high schools that provide credit toward a degree at Onondaga Community College.

All Central New York high school students are encouraged to apply. The bootcamp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the week, and includes breakfast and lunch. SU employees are encouraged to enroll their high school-aged children. The cost of the bootcamp is $600 per child, and students may be eligible for up to $500 in scholarship funds.

To learn more about the SEE, and for application and scholarship forms, visit or contact Margaret Butler at mmbutler@syr.edu, or 315-443-8631.