The Hatching of Great Ideas in the New INCubatoredu Program

Starting next semester, Chariho High School is offering a new program called INCubatoredu that teaches students important skills that are needed to create solutions to problems that they may see in the real world.

“‘INCubator’ by definition is the start-up or the launching point of an idea,” says STEM Specialist and facilitator of the program, Mrs. Scanapieco.

In this project-based program, students are separated in groups of three or four that come together to come up with an idea that they feel will be a profitable solution to a problem in the real world. This solution can be either be in the form of a product or an organized service.

“They will be creating a product from the idea of it being a solution to a problem,” says Scanpieco. “It is completely up to them and is entirely open-ended and not at all set into any kind of box.”

The entrepreneurial process that is used in the program is running off of the Lean Business Model. This business model starts with forming a hypothesis, creating a solution, testing the theory with customers, and lastly learning from customer feedback to make a product even better.

The program is run by a facilitator, Mrs. Scanapieco. The facilitator will control how fast the projects will move along and get the students through the project. In addition to the facilitator, there will be community members that act as coaches and mentors who will give students direct knowledge about the benefits of the material.

“The coaches will each teach a very specific lesson that will give the students the background that they need to make good choices and decisions on their product and their business,” Scanapieco says. “The mentors will help the students more on a weekly basis to just get through the process with some persistence, rigor, and grit. They will keep sure the students are really keeping them on pace with the schedule and focusing on the rigor of the assignment.”

Among the mentors and coaches are community members such as Ed Smith, Kurt Harrington, and Stephen White. Scanapieco is happy to have them on board with the program and she says that they cannot wait to be a part of the program.

“We chose INCubatoredu because although there are many entrepreneurship programs out there, we felt that this was the most twenty-first century one,” says Scanapieco. She says that it held new ideas regarding how to launch a new product and how to learn from the process of building, testing, and getting instant feedback.

“We felt that it was the most progressive curriculum available mostly because it was intended to be used with real entrepreneurs in the real world,” Scanapeico pointed out. “We are now able to offer it to high school students without watering it down and without changing the curriculum. So, we feel we are giving them the most authentic entrepreneurship experience.”

In fact, Scanapieco has learned that the world of business is going in the direction of the Lean Business Model that is used in the program. She says, “Even just having gone through a fake and potential real business cycle, students will have learned the basics of that Lean Business Model. And they will have left our school knowing what many entrepreneurs that are much older than them that have just started to begin learning and they will be ahead in their field.”

When asked about who the program is recommended for, Scanapieco had an interesting response.

“I really want to keep that as open as possible. Someone who has some passion for something and who can see themselves being excited about making a new product or business service. But really, mostly just the passion and the willingness to work hard.”

She went on to say, “We really don’t want to limit it to a certain group of people because we feel that anybody could be an entrepreneur and bring with them different talents.”

“I always hope that we get kids with multiple backgrounds and because of how different they are, they can make the best product ever. I think of someone who’s very musical sitting next to someone who has a lot of computer science skills sitting next to someone with artistic skills and because of their varied talents, they come out with a product that is so much better than if anyone of them were sitting by themselves in the room.”

“Solutions to problems are every invention,” says Mrs. Scanapeico. If you feel like you have that next million-dollar idea, a passion, and a great sense of perseverance, consider taking the year-long program next year. Contact your guidance counselor if you are interested.