Rockville, Md.— Students from 14 high schools in Montgomery County Public Schools are gaining a greater understanding of international entrepreneurial program this week (July 12-16), thanks to the Silver Spring Chapter of The Links, Inc. and the organization’s partners The Universities at Shady Grove and Montgomery County Public Schools. The Links, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization of 12,000 professional women of color in 270 chapters located in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, with the primary mission of providing service to local communities.
The LIFE: Youth International Entrepreneurial Program (LIFE-YIEP) is designed to provide students in grades 10, 11, and 12 attending Montgomery County Public Schools with an intensive week-long experience (approximately 35 hours) to increase their awareness of entrepreneurship within the global community. The focus of the project is to help students bridge entrepreneurship theory into practice with lectures, special guest speakers, web-based research labs, and small group activities. All of the activities are focused on helping the students create a business plan for a project/product that will be marketed in a foreign country. The country they are focusing on this week is Chile. In addition, the students are gaining a greater sensitivity about the importance and understanding of cultural differences for business ventures and economic development.
More than 40 students applied for the program. The Selection Committee recommended 26 finalists to be interviewed. Following the interviews, 21 students from 14 Montgomery County high schools were chosen for the inaugural class of LIFE-YIEP.
The success of the program is based on the strength of the partnerships that support LIFE-YIEP. The partnership with The Universities at Shady Grove is a good fit because the campus is an innovative model for delivering top-quality college degree programs. USG is not one university: instead it is a collaboration of nine leading public universities in Maryland offering more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Montgomery County. Established in 2000, USG serves more than 3,650 full and part-time students.
The second partner is the Montgomery County Public School System, which is providing two experienced teachers who regularly educate students on the topic of entrepreneurship. They are being supported by undergraduate and graduate student volunteers. The International Trends and Services Facet, the developer of LIFE-YIEP for the Silver Spring Chapter produced the materials for the program and distributed information about LIFE-YIEP to guidance counselors in the Montgomery County Public School System.
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