** Update ** Congratulations to the Edna Karr Secondary School for winning the inaugural Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge, and also to all the participating schools who are fostering the entrepreneurial spirit in young people.
IdeaPaint is excited and proud to be working with The Brees Dream Foundation, The Idea Village and Google to launch the Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge, an after-school entrepreneurship program for New Orleans high schools.
“Many of the attributes of football - resiliency, passion, preparation and teamwork - translate into entrepreneurship,” remarks Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints and founder of the Brees Dream Foundation. “As an entrepreneur myself, I am delighted to partner with The Idea Village to bring this entrepreneurial spirit to New Orleans high schools.”
Since 2000, The Idea Village has focused on creating positive change in New Orleans by identifying, supporting and retaining entrepreneurial talent. Drew Brees embodied The Idea Village mantra, "Trust Your Crazy Ideas," as he led the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl championship. In doing so, he encouraged his team – and the community – to believe in the power of turning a bold dream into a triumphant reality. Together with IdeaPaint and Google, they will encourage the New Orleans youth to do the same through the Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge. Check out The Idea Village on Facebook.
With support from IdeaPaint, the creator of innovative dry-erase whiteboard paint products and the official paint supplier of the Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge, the Brees Dream Foundation is sponsoring IDEArooms in four New Orleans high schools. Through the installation of IdeaPaint, IDEArooms boast floor-to-ceiling dry-erase surfaces. These classrooms will become centers of innovation, creativity and collaboration, and the home base for the after-school entrepreneurship program and business contest, hosted by the Brees Dream Foundation and The Idea Village. See photos.
"We love participating in a program that so directly encourages entrepreneurship and creativity," says IdeaPaint's Jeff Avallon. "IdeaPaint was founded by college students who were looking for a better way to work and explore new ideas, and we are thrilled to help give these young people spaces to collaborate and innovate."
Learn more about IdeaPaint.
Drew Brees is challenging teams of nine students per school to launch a for-profit business in which proceeds support a school project. The Brees Dream Foundation will match up to $10,000 in revenue generated by the winning team who will be invited to pitch alongside MBA and corporate teams during The Idea Village’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (March 18 – 25, 2011).
Google is also a partner in this exciting initiative. Google’s K-12 Talent and Outreach Team is sponsoring technology centers in each of the participating high schools and will provide curriculum support to the students, demonstrating how to use technology to grow their businesses in the new global marketplace.
The four pilot schools include Edna Karr Secondary School, Lusher Charter School, Walter L. Cohen High Schools and Warren Easton Senior High School.
Entrepreneurs in The Idea Village portfolio will partner with each student team, serving as a product supplier and mentor for their budding ventures. Partner entrepreneurs include Bayou Brew, Feelgoodz, NOLA Couture and REpurposingNOLA Piece by Peace™.
Tim Williamson, co-founder and CEO of The Idea Village remarks, “Drew Brees has inspired an entire community to believe in the sense of possibility. We hope that the Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge stimulates this belief and entrepreneurial fervor for participating students and their future career paths.”
Alex Hochron, Health Sciences Academy Principal of Cohen High School adds, “Drew Brees is the perfect role model, both on and off the football field. By teaching high school students about entrepreneurship, and inspiring them to think beyond their textbooks, we are developing our next generation of business leaders.”
The Brees Dream Foundation, The Idea Village and IdeaPaint share a belief in the possibility – and the promise – of turning a crazy idea into a legendary success. In leveraging their respective organizations to support entrepreneurship among New Orleans' youth, the city is being positioned as a world-class model for driving economic and social change.
Learn more about the Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge.
Also, check out this feature on Drew Brees and The Idea Village in Entrepreneur Magazine.
Got your own crazy ideas?? Buy IdeaPaint.
