San Diego’s own Nick Cannon is helping high schoolers go from students to entrepreneurs at this year’s College Career and Technical Education annual showcase.
Career technical education courses are offered at schools throughout the San Diego Unified School District. The courses integrate industry skills with real-world applications that prepare students for success and push them to explore their entrepreneurial spirit.
Since the start of the school year, students at Point Loma High School have been working in teams to bring their entrepreneurial ideas to life. The students were asked to develop an original concept, build resumes, a business plan, a presentation and a promotional poster.
Every year there is a showcase that acts as a platform for students to share their ideas and products with local businesses. This year, students came up with a variety of concepts such as cellphone cases that double as 3D printers, clothing lines, visual effects companies and college information podcasts. Cannon, a musician and celebrity entrepreneur, met with the students representing Point Loma High School last week prior to the official showcase.
“This program exposes students to global career and entrepreneurship opportunities in San Diego,” said Betty-Jo Acker, program specialist for College Career and Technical Education (CCTE). “This year, we were contacted by the Nick Cannon Foundation to collaborate with him for his America’s Teen Mogul Summit.”
The Nick Cannon Foundation aims to provide leadership development and community service to at-risk youth in San Diego. This year he chose to reach out to the CCTE program and host their annual showcase as a launch event for his foundation’s America’s Teen Mogul Summit.
At the showcase, 27 teams of students will present their work before a panel of judges and one team will win a grand prize of $5,000. According to Cannon, the grand prize is the push that will make their ideas a reality.
“It is all outstanding,” Cannon said. “The youthful mind has creativity that has yet to be stifled. For millennials and post millennials this is their curriculum, they live this stuff. We may have the ideas but the minds of today are the ones that will take it all to the next level.”
The College Career and Technical Education program helps students prepare for their future by piquing their interests in the growing job industries in San Diego.
“CCTE connects business partners with students and teachers to develop a strong foundation for the economic future of San Diego,” Acker said.
The goal of the program is to provide high school students with the skills necessary to compete and succeed in the job market. It also provides an opportunity for them to fully develop ideas that they may not normally have the chance to explore.
Cormac McCarthy and Hayden Barker, freshmen at Point Loma High, chose to create a visual effects company.
“We have been doing videos together since sixth grade,” Barker said. “This contest allowed us to access our skills. Even if we don’t win we feel prepared for the real world and to go through with this business plan.”
Fernanda Uriarte and Audrea Cain, seniors at Point Loma High, developed a clothing line called Breaking the Habit. They noticed an increase in the cost of trendy clothing today and chose to create a clothing brand that is expressive, cheap and a gives back to charity.
“We learned the most about time management and creating a business plan,” Uriarte said. “They sort of just told us we had to create a 10 page business plan and no one knew what that was but we figured it out and now we have those skills.”
Aiden McGinnis and Calvin Mantila, freshmen at Point Loma High, developed a cellphone lifestyle app that provides video tutorials and current statistics about all kinds of sports. The project allowed the boys to combine their interests and develop a product.
“I’m into graphic design and he’s into sports and we put the two together for this,” McGinnis said. “We learned how to work in a group, how to actually get things done, how to manage our time and how to learn to be great.”
Cannon expressed how inspiring the students were to him and that he feels it is his duty to help the leaders, thinkers and doers of tomorrow.
“My advice to them would be and always is, to push forward, to never accept no and to allow the creativity to go wild because it’s a cliché but the sky really is the limit.”