Becoming Entrepreneurial

The workshop at the Vibram Connection Lab on Commonwealth Avenue fills with noise as a group of high school students get to work on their designs. Their assignment: build a fully functional pair of shoes using only upcycled materials and a set of the athletic-footwear company’s trademark rubber soles.

“Remember, we present at two o’clock,” says Professor Chaim Letwin, director of Suffolk’s Center for Entrepreneurship. “Make sure you’re finished by then!”

Xiomara Perez Puerta, a senior at Everett High School, grabs an awl and tries to punch a hole into the jeans she’s using to construct the shoe’s upper. The denim material is tough, but so is Perez Puerta, who punches first one hole and then another through the fabric, which she will anchor to the sole.

Perez Puerta is learning something more than how to build a shoe. As one of 26 public and charter high school students taking part in the Sawyer Business School’s Becoming Entrepreneurial program, she’s learning how to think like an entrepreneur—using creative problem solving to come up with new ideas, new products, new ventures. This three-week, three-credit summer course provides rising high school seniors with the opportunity to learn from successful entrepreneurs— and at no cost to participants. They take classes with Letwin and Professor Shari Worthington, listen to guest lectures from industry experts, and take field trips around Boston, like their visit to Vibram, that bring classroom skills to life.

To Perez Puerta, making shoes is a metaphor for perseverance. Unsure of her design at times, she pushes through, beaming with pride when she finishes. “Just because [something] doesn’t start off looking how you envision it doesn’t mean it’s going to turn out bad,” she says. And the finished product, she adds, is “a special creation of me.”

Armando Reyes, a student at Excel Academy Charter High School, says designing and building physical products helps to cement classroom skill.

“We’re still using our heads, but this is more hands-on,” he says. “It’s cool.”

Bringing College Education to High Schoolers

Worthington and Letwin started the summer entrepreneurship program in 2022 to expand opportunities for students from communities who’ve historically had less access to post-secondary education. They envision a program where all who are interested in business can learn to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit without barriers. The program also includes sessions with Suffolk’s Admission and Financial Aid offices, and with the Center for Career Equity, Development & Success.

“We wanted to provide high school students from the Boston area schools with a college experience, with a focus on students coming from low-resource families,” Worthington says.

Students learn to use the entrepreneurial mindset to develop their own concepts into proposals that address real-life issues, then work in groups to hone their brainstorms into pitches fit for Shark Tank. The course wraps up with groups pitching ideas to their peers, families, and guests.

This summer, groups pitched ideas ranging from building home security systems to indoor gardening, and each brought a unique perspective to the problem they solved.

Many drew inspiration from their own lives, like Perez Puerta, whose group pitched a robotic nurse that could handle triage and initial examinations at hospitals. Perez Puerta developed the concept after a frustrating experience at an understaffed hospital.

“I couldn’t get the attention I needed at the time I needed it,” says Perez Puerta. “There are a lot of people that deal with that for more severe issues.”

Funded for five years by a generous grant from venture capitalist and banker Spencer Lake, BSBA ’84, the program includes everything from textbooks to lunches to Charlie Cards to ensure all who are interested can participate.

Lake, who lives and works in London, traveled to Suffolk to speak with students, where he was joined by two of his siblings. Other featured speakers included restaurateur Eric Papachristos, BSBA ’98, MBA ’99, co-owner of Porto Boston and Saloniki, and Oliver Ferrari, a rising senior at the Business School and founder of Varsity Lawn Care.

For Harrison Mayer of Somerville High School, the chance to learn directly from working entrepreneurs was “the most valuable part of this course. Spencer Lake was really cool, and I enjoyed talking to Eric Papachristos.”

While students come from different backgrounds and experiences, they share a common interest in business—and a desire to put their learning into action. “I don’t want to wait until I’m older,” says Perez Puerta. “I want to start pursuing things now.”