Dual School’s spring exhibit to present social impact projects with a young POV

One of our takeaways from the Impact sessions at Introduced by Technical.ly during Philly Tech Week 2019 presented by Comcast was that high school students need more opportunities to learn entrepreneurship skills.

The founder of Philadelphia-based social impact training program Fulphil, Tiffany Yau, shared that 72% of area high school students want to start their own business, but over 60% are not offered a course in entrepreneurship in high school. Not only that — we heard that high school students are highly interested in starting businesses with social impact, with issues like mental health, inequity, environment and school safety among the areas youth are most interested in.

Dual School, which launched as a pilot in the fall of 2017, is now in its second year of offering experiential project-based learning in an after-school program at 1313 Innovation, with a more recently launched in-school program at William Penn High School in New Castle.

Dual School gives high schoolers the opportunity to develop a social venture project that aligns with their passions. Alum have done things like publish a children’s book about implicit bias and write a column for Technical.ly.

On Tuesday, May 21, from 5 to 8 p.m., Dual School’s Spring 2019 cohort will present their projects at 1313 Innovation.

Here are just a few of the 34 ventures you’ll see:

• Valentina Maza, Tatiana Romero and Cisnelly Maza, William Penn High School — Education in Times of Immigration, a nonprofit to help immigrants adjust to life in America
• Grace Li, Charter School of Wilmington — Prototyping gamification of traditional school subjects
• Xinghan (Oscar) Tong, Wilmington Friends — Reducing air pollution in the city of Wilmington
• Ty’shawnda Walker, Howard High School — Mentoring and positive role models for African-American males
• Claudia Offutt, St. Elizabeth High School — A workshop to engage young voters and make them informed about climate change
• Jazmyne Seeney, William Penn High School — Spreading awareness about discrimination in the workplace against Black women

RSVP here, and if you’re interested in learning more about becoming a Dual School mentor or business collaborator, click here.