Entrepreneurship

Laurel's Curricular Braid

Entrepreneurship, along with civic engagement, global studies and STEAM, is one of the themes woven through Laurel’s Curricular Braid that sets the foundation for the Kindergarten-Grade 12 academic program. In Primary and Middle School, each year highlights two different strands of the curricular braid preparing girls for life in Laurel’s Upper School where the braid continues to weave throughout the academic program to graduation. Entrepreneurship is featured in age-appropriate ways in Third Grade, Fifth Grade and Eighth Grade. In Upper School, girls are given the opportunity to create their own entrepreneurship path through Laurel’s signature initiatives: the Protégé Internship Program and the Capstone Scholars Program.

In partnership with Cleveland Coffee, this student-run coffee roasting business is part of our programming in the Upper School. Laurel girls travel to Cleveland Coffee’s production facility to handle every aspect of the business including coffee roasting, IT, marketing and accounting.

Laurel Upper School students may pursue their passions by interning with local businesses through the Protégé Program. Each semester, girls intern in industries such as medicine, law, architecture, banking and non-profits.

The entrepreneurship cohort of Laurel’s Capstone Experience enables students to develop an entrepreneurship project through guided research and purposeful travel. Girls work with a mentor to thoughtfully examine an aspect of entrepreneurship. Additionally, girls travel to entrepreneurial hotbeds such as Seattle and San Francisco to meet with leaders in innovation.

Upper School students compete in the Veale Youth Entrepreneurship Forum thinkBIG! Challenge business plan competition. Past entries include an organic cleaning solution, clothing company for people with physical disabilities and a translation app. Additionally, Laurel girls annually attend the Dare to Dream Retreat at John Carroll University which examines the unique challenges faced by female entrepreneurs.

This business plan competition for Upper School girls invites Laurel alumnae to serve as judges. Students present detailed business plans and compete for cash prizes. A Tenth Grader won in 2020 with her plan for Flufl & Co., a company which creates stuffed animals which may be easily cleaned and sanitized.