New Life Academy students in the Entrepreneurship and Business Consulting class participated in a Shark Tank competition. The competition was held at the U of M Carlson School of Management. Eight student teams from four private schools across the twin cities pitched their business concept to a panel of judges, “sharks” in January. New Life Academy teams Re-fitted (Alex G. and Judah K.) and Complete Backpack (Justin D., Riley G., Cooper F.) took first and second place respectively.
This intra-school Shark tank style competition is the culminating event following the first semester of a new Entrepreneurship and Business consulting class offered at New Life Academy. Partnering with Apriton Advisors, this course uses a Career Ingrained Learning approach to daily instruction. This learning approach prioritizes preparing students for careers by teaching academic content through the lens of a specific professional field. Students also develop their interactive skill set by working on team projects, interacting with and being taught by guest instructors from various professions, and being mentored by experienced executives. Students engage in innovation, ideation and design thinking training that gives them the inventive and creative mindset to excel in any professional field.
Semester 1 of the course focuses on learning about human centered design, innovation and entrepreneurship and culminates in a competition similar to the famous TV show “Shark Tank.” Working in teams, students will learn from professionals about the innovation process, human centered design and new venture business development while creating their own business concept. This will culminate in each team presenting their business proposals to a panel of business entrepreneurship judges. Semester 2 focuses on teams of students working on real consulting projects for local companies where they will face a specific challenge from the organization. Using a specific framework developed by Chris Pears and Ann Senn, retired Senior Partner of Deloitte Consulting, students will research, ideate, evaluate, recommend and formally present solutions on deliverables required by the client.