“This has been a very passionate endeavor for [EISD Superintendent] Dr. [Tom] Leonard and his team,” Chamber Chairman Tim Coffee said. “Focused on small business and building new businesses, this is something near and dear to my heart.”
Superintendent Tom Leonard explains the incubator program to the Westlake Chamber of Commerce April 18.[/caption]Leonard said the incubator program emphasizes connecting students with the community and experts in the fields in which they are exploring.
“This doesn’t work without people in the community teaching it,” he said. “For our students at Westlake [High School] to be associated and work with these people is a real benefit to them.”
Student Bayley Shipley said his team created Food Squared to provide healthy school lunches that parents do not have to prepare in the morning.
“We just spoke with a competitor over a video call, and it’s pretty interesting to talk with someone who has gotten millions of dollars in funding and is where we want to be in a couple of years,” he said.
Student Sarah Maredia, whose company The Life Seat aims to lower the number of children accidentally left in cars by parents, said her team has pivoted since its initial pitch to local entrepreneurs.
“We’ve definitely talked to mentors and coaches with a lot of experience, so it’s very helpful,” she said.
Leonard said the class helps build resilience because students are forced to face failure, and there is a chance they ultimately do not succeed.
“That’s what [the incubator] is about,” he said. “You come up with an idea, you test it, you find out where it fails and you pivot. And then you come up with an idea, test it and pivot.”
One of the businesses created this year is SnapFuel, which employs other Westlake High School students and uses a pickup truck to deliver boat fuel to vessels on the shores of Lake Austin, co-founder Zakary Morris said.
“This is just a picture of the kinds of things that we work on as a district,” Leonard said. “We do believe that if you are going to be a really good district, you have to have an eye on innovation, and when you think about innovation you want exploration and collaboration. You want [students] to invent and reinvest back into some of their other subject areas.”
