E-Squared program helps students stay a step ahead

Published January 17, 2011 in the Culpeper Star Exponent

"It Drives America” and it is right here in Culpeper. We have worked to develop the program year after year for close to a decade.

The program development is as much a testament to our community as the program itself. The leadership of Career Partners, Inc. has been a steady force in bringing business and education together in order to encourage our high school students to understand business principles.

The E-Squared program is recognized throughout the state with high regard by business, government, and educational leaders for its unique community collaboration and entrepreneurial focus.

As I watched the latest film regarding the story of Facebook, one scene reminded me of the E-Squared program. The scene was staged in the office of the President of Harvard University. Two students were making their case regarding ownership in Facebook. The president looked at the students and said something like “every student at Harvard is trying to invent something. Our students prefer to create their own wealth, rather than work for someone else to obtain it.”

E-Squared operates by the very same principle in many respects. The students are asked to work with a team of other students to create a product and win a panel of faux Venture Capital judges that their project is worth funding.
The concept seems simple and yet it is very complex. Through some very talented leadership of educators, business, and government leaders in Culpeper, the students are offered a detailed program toward this result.
Over 50 business leaders are involved as judges and subject matter experts during the program. Our school educators in the Career and Technical Department of the Culpeper County High Schools weave the program thru a class curriculum beginning in January and culminating in a final competition in April. This is a challenging process. It requires discipline, creativity, and a lot of courage by the students to make such presentations to business leaders.

The E-Squared competition has a big reward for the student team that wins the competition. Each of the four to six team members of the winning team is offered scholarship dollar commitments of up to $5,000 each this year. The funds that are on the line total up to $30,000. The scholarships are funded 100 percent by contributions from local business. A tough economy has not been able to hold our business community back from supporting this program. This is a huge commitment and evidence that our business community is very interested in the success of our youth. 

As I pointed out, Hollywood ascribes such high value to entrepreneurship in the Facebook Movie - Harvard University setting.

Culpeper has positioned our high school students to stay a step ahead of their peers at the high school level by learning the basics of a business plan, marketing plan, financial plan, and public speaking. With nearly 160 students participating in the program this year, the competition will be very exciting.
The 2011 E Squared program officially kicked off last week, go to www.ESquaredCulpeper.com for a robust description of the program.

Jim Charapich is the President/CEO of the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce.  jcharapich@culpepervachamber.com.