1871 and CPS Announce Entrepreneur 8-Week Seminar at Dyett High School

Reprinted newsletter@email.chicagodefender.com
Published: April 10, 2017

On Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, 1871 CEO Howard Tullman and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chief Education Officer Dr. Janice Jackson were at Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts in Washington Park to announce an innovative program that will provide high school students with lessons on entrepreneurship in technology by prominent local entrepreneurs. This new program, a joint initiative of 1871 and CPS, will pilot at Dyett High School this spring, providing students an eight-week seminar on what it takes to become an entrepreneur in the 21st century.

Later this month, 20 freshmen will begin participation in this first-of-its-kind seminar that will give them an opportunity to learn key entrepreneurship principles directly from local entrepreneurs themselves, and to receive personalized mentoring in the process.

“With more students in Chicago graduating from high school and college-bound than ever before, providing them opportunities to excel in the next steps of their education and career is critical” said Mayor Emanuel. “I want to thank Dyett’s Principal Beulah McLoyd, 1871 CEO Howard Tullman, and our partners in the tech sector for creating new opportunities for our students and supporting them with real-world knowledge that will guide their success as they seek out Chicago’s most competitive jobs and lead our next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.”

The Eagle Entrepreneurs Group is the brainchild of 1871’s Tullman and Dyett’s principal, McLoyd. It incorporates Dyett’s own Algebra and Entrepreneurship courses, and Tullman’s book “The Perspiration Principles,” based on the principles he’s used at 1871 to help hundreds of entrepreneurs and small businesses to launch and thrive in Chicago since its founding.

The goal of this partnership is to supplement the school’s arts and tech-focused curriculum by giving students an opportunity to think and solve problems commonly found in today’s growing STEM industries and in the digital age. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in STEM and computer science-related fields are growing faster than any other industry.

“We know that for our students to truly succeed in the 21st century, we have to teach them to think differently,” said McLoyd. “Thanks to 1871 and Howard Tullman, our students will have an opportunity to learn firsthand from experts who have succeeded as entrepreneurs, and to master best practices now so that they can apply those lessons later in college, career and life.”

As part of its commitment to delivering technology resources into classrooms throughout the city, CPS is working with 1871 to expand this curriculum to other schools this year by adapting Tullman’s lessons into a webcast. Additionally, CPS is working to develop a more advanced curriculum for 10th-graders who want to continue to participate next year, which would in turn allow them to serve as mentors to incoming students next year.

“There is no question that Chicago’s students are doing better academically than ever before, which is why we must continue to invest in the tools that will prepare them for postsecondary success,” said Jackson. “That’s why Mayor Emanuel and I are committed to providing students the resources needed to succeed in our increasingly specialized and technology-oriented economy and to become the next entrepreneurs and leaders of our great city.”

The course includes evaluation rubrics designed to measure students’ success and ensure that they are mastering the concepts. All student participants and their parents will receive a copy of the core text, Tullman’s “The Perspiration Principles,” adapted for Dyett’s students; an “Eagle Entrepreneurs” T-shirt; and an opportunity to continue learning entrepreneurship with a more advanced 10th grade curriculum that is currently being developed for next school year.

In addition to the entrepreneurs and 1871 board members committed to mentoring students in the seminar, Tullman and 1871 are supporting the program and the buildout of the new classroom through donations from local entrepreneurs and in-kind donations by local organizations Steelcase, Interface Carpets and local interior designer Barbara Pollack, who is designing and coordinating the development of a new 1871-inspired interactive learning pilot classroom that will eventually be used to create future opportunities for students to engage in technology workshops and seminars.

Keywords: 1871 Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, dyett high school, Howard Tullman