The students are among 15 from the charter school - and 70 in the city - attending StartupCorps' weekly entrepreneurship classes, also taught at Mastery, KIPP, Boys Latin, and the Urban Technology Project. Interested high school students must apply to the program.
"We started to develop a concept of how to help students actually start a business while they're in high school. That's where all the learning happens, that's the centerpiece," StartupCorps cofounder Christian Kunkel said. Kunkel, a 27-year-old Duke University graduate with a degree in economics, founded StartupCorps almost two years ago with Rich Sedmak, 25. Sedmak started his first business, in consumer electronics liquidation, at 15 and left Drexel University for his technology company.
At this point in the school year, the high school entrepreneurs are refining their ideas with the help of business people and venture capitalists who come to the classrooms to mentor the students.
Rashaun Williams, Anthony Torrance, and Douglass Wallace, all juniors at SLA, have held a cleanup event for their community-cleanup nonprofit organization, Phresh Philadelphia. They are already getting publicity for their idea - they were featured on local radio.
They collaborated with city groups - 100 Black Men, for instance - for the first cleanup and are working on the next event, yet to be scheduled. Their goal is to improve communications between police and youth.
And they continue to revise their business, focused on cleaning up North Philadelphia, with the help of StartupCorps mentors.
"Make sure to start small," says Alfie Hanssen, chief executive officer and cofounder of a local game start-up, Tembo Studio. "Is this helpful, or am I telling you guys things you already know?"
Williams makes a face as if to indicate: "Of course it's helpful."
