|
 This quarter, MPICT’s James Jones was a judge in the
California Region
SAGE (Students for the Advancement of Global
Entrepreneurship) contest. SAGE is a successful and inspiring
model of engaging students in real world experiences to create
real world life skills for lifetime success.
SAGE is a global network of teenage entrepreneurs -and their
advocates - who share a common purpose: to make the world a
better place. Its mission is to help create the next
generation of entrepreneurial leaders, whose innovations and
social enterprises address the major unmet needs of our global
community.
Under the helpful and guiding eye of their university business
consultants and mentors, SAGE provides high-school students
with an opportunity to complete business and social ventures
to improve their communities. At the end of the academic year,
the student teams showcase their efforts on a regional,
national and world stage. It is a free, non-membership service
available to all advocates of education in private and social
entrepreneurship. SAGE has no staff. It is 100% run by
volunteers.
A team of high-school students is first organized and at least
two mentors are identified from local businesses and
universities. There are more than 4,000 high school students
participating in SAGE programs at more than 500 high schools
around the world. The size of a team ranges from five to fifty
members. With guidance from their university mentors, a new
SAGE team must complete at least one new entrepreneurship
activity and one new social venture. “Veteran” SAGE teams must
also improve upon at least one continuing entrepreneurship
activity and one continuing social venture from a prior year.
At the end of each year the program ends with a regional,
competitive tournament. Each team provides a four-page written
annual report and a verbal presentation to panel of jurists/
evaluators/ judges that are recruited from leading members in
the community. The “referees” for these competitions come from
local and international businesses, as well as the civic,
nonprofit, and education communities, giving the competitions
a true “real world” perspective which helps build team
competency. The judging panel selects the SAGE team that has
had the most impact in completing its commercial and social
ventures.
This process is a unique form of benchmarking, where students
can calibrate their projects with those of peers for future
improvement. In addition to completing both commercial and
social entrepreneurship ventures, teams are judged on how well
they integrated the following into their activities: global
markets, civic engagement in a democracy, and environmental
awareness.
Winning teams from regional contests advance to nationals,
which took place in Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY. This year,
Santa Monica High School became the SAGE USA champion team.
First-runner up was Holy Angels Academy of Buffalo. 3rd place
went to Benicia High School of California, and 4th went to
Northwestern Lehigh of PA. 1st and 2nd place national teams
advance to a global contest, which takes place in Cape Town,
South Africa in July. Previous global competition locations
have included Shanghai, China, Brasilia, Brazil and Odessa,
Ukraine.
From its start at CSU – Chico, SAGE has expanded to 9 U.S.
states and 22 countries, with another 17 countries joining
soon. SAGE’s Core Values:
• We believe in the importance of teenagers to our global
community and will constantly challenge them to ask more of
themselves and others
• We believe every teenager is capable of making the world a
better place
• We believe entrepreneurship can be a powerful way for
teenagers to create better futures for themselves and others
• We believe a physically and emotionally safe environment is
essential for teenagers to fully explore their potential and
forge respectful relationships with peers in other countries
• We believe we have a responsibility to nurture the next
generation of leaders
 ICT educators are often challenged by industry and business to
help improve students’ understanding of the relevance and
applications of ICT and to create opportunities for students
to acquire real world experiences. SAGE offers intriguing
lessons.
Back to Q2 2010
Newsletter |
