Starts With an Idea

What if students didn’t have to wait until they graduated to turn an idea into something real?

At Mount Vernon, entrepreneurship starts early. Not necessarily with a business plan or a pitch competition, but with a belief that students can identify an opportunity, ask questions, and do something about it.

That mindset grows throughout the Mount Vernon experience. Students learn to recognize possibilities, understand the people and communities around them, develop ideas, test and refine their thinking, and ultimately create something of value for others.

From curiosity to action

That journey begins as early as Grade 5 through the Impact Summit.

Throughout the year, students identify a passion or area of curiosity, research it, engage with experts and community partners, develop an idea, and put that idea into action. The result might be a business plan, a service-learning opportunity, a product, or a community initiative.

Last spring, Grade 5 student Finn Douglas wanted to create a soccer charity match. What began as an idea grew through conversations with experts and partnerships with other students and Mount Vernon’s Upper School soccer program. Ultimately, nearly 20 students participated, and more than 100 pieces of soccer equipment were collected for the community.

The experience gave students an early lesson in what it means to move an idea forward: ask questions, build relationships, iterate, and act.

That progression is intentional. Students move from “I have an idea” to “I can develop this idea” to “I can create something of value with and for others.”

Entrepreneurship takes many forms

At Mount Vernon, entrepreneurship isn’t synonymous with building a for-profit company.

Students have launched businesses, created products, published books, established 501(c)(3) organizations, and developed solutions to community needs while they were still in school.

Senior Phia Calvo, for example, recently became a published author with her children’s book, Clara and her Bs and Ds. What began as a student idea has become a published product that can reach an audience beyond the School.

Maddy Strudwick, Class of 2022, launched a company and product while she was a Mount Vernon student, experiencing the process of developing an idea, creating a product, and bringing it to market.

Collin Maher, Class of 2025, took a different path, starting a charity road race to raise money to purchase brand-new athletic running shoes for students in need at a nearby public school. He leaves a legacy of impact.

Each experience looks different. The common thread is student agency.

Students learn that they don’t have to wait until graduation to turn an idea into something real or make an impact on the world around them.

Real challenges. Real organizations.

As students progress into Upper School, those opportunities become increasingly complex and authentic.

Innovation Diploma gives students the opportunity to work on real challenges for real organizations. This fall, students are collaborating with organizations including Verizon, Mercedes-Benz, Chick-fil-A, and Piedmont Pediatrics. Instead of completing a predetermined assignment, students research, interview stakeholders, identify opportunities, and develop solutions.

A recent partnership with Furman University’s Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship illustrates that approach.
Furman came to Mount Vernon while developing its first summer entrepreneurship experience for high school students and asked Mount Vernon students to help design it. Six teams of Grade 10 students spent nine weeks developing the experience, from its structure and learning journey to branding, marketing, and physical materials.

Students researched their audience, developed and tested ideas, responded to feedback, and presented their recommendations to Furman’s team.

They weren’t learning about entrepreneurship through a hypothetical case. They were working as design partners on something a real organization needed.

The same approach has been applied through other partnerships, including work with Inspire Brands, where students collaborate directly with business leaders on authentic innovation and design challenges.

Creating value for others

The progression from the Impact Summit to the Innovation Diploma reflects a larger philosophy about how students learn.
Entrepreneurship starts with curiosity: What could be different? It continues with inquiry: Who does this matter to, and what do I need to understand? Then comes action: What can I create, test, and improve?

Ultimately, it leads to impact: How can this idea create value for someone beyond myself?

The scale changes as students grow. The responsibility grows with it.

But the underlying idea remains the same: students have the agency to see an opportunity, develop an idea, and make something happen.