Send 173 youth to entrepreneurship camp

BUILD’s rising sophomores have just completed a year-long entrepreneurship course at their high schools taught by credentialed teachers on staff. The culmination of the year is BUILD's Annual Youth Business Plan Competitions, held every May. This year's winners were Sequoia High School's Fantastic 5, Oakland Technical High School's Team Excel, and Dunbar High School's Happy Paws.

These teams from BUILD partner schools in California and Washington, DC, are about to begin three years of programming at our Incubators with other BUILD students with support from a new set of staff. This is a big change for the rising sophomore students to make and it is important that they feel comfortable and engaged with the program at this critical time. At Launch Camp, students complete general team-building activities, such as a ropes course and relay races, to bond with students from other schools.

Launch Camp also orients students to BUILD’s college-going culture. Staff members continually reinforce the message that all students in the program are going to college. When students arrive, they learn that their cabins are named after colleges and universities. Staff members wear college attire on the first day of the camp. Importantly, students also learn about the GPA requirements and how to think ahead about getting letters of recommendation. These are lessons that will be reinforced during the after-school program and will culminate in students applying to college their senior year.