Economics and Entrepreneurship Meet for Greater Good
1/3
List of 1 items.
A UNIQUE PROGRAM
Hutchison Invests equips girls with the foundation they need to build, lead, and navigate the world of entrepreneurship successfully. Focused on creative entrepreneurship, micro and macro economics, responsible investments, and the civic role of business and finance, this program explores the impact of positive social change in the business world. Girls will be given the space to discover their own ability to create value and contribute to the world as they solve problems that are real and matter to them. Having gone through this process, we want our girls to feel more empowered, inspired, supported and willing to take calculated risks.
In our upper school entrepreneurship course, girls gain knowledge of the nature and scope of entrepreneurship and a deeper understanding of its impact on market economies. Students examine the traits and behaviors fundamental to success in owning and operating a business through four phases: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and the Foundations of Building a Business, Crash Course in Design Thinking, Business Partnership(s), and Student Startups. This class teaches communication, creativity, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving skills through hands-on educational challenges. Students also run and operate the Holiday House Market which is an all-girls market that features budding upper school entrepreneurs who sell their products and services to Hutchison families, faculty, and staff.
Students gain an understanding of real-world situations through financial literacy seminars. Topics include credit cards, budgeting, the importance of saving, taxes, and insurance.
Through the Philanthropic Literacy Board, upper school girls build and manage an endowment fund in partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and then determine how to distribute grants to Memphis-area nonprofits. Participating on the board, girls learn about the formidable responsibilities that come with how and why particular projects and organizations receive funding. The student-run board solicits requests for proposals, evaluates applicants, and manages the grants once they are awarded.
One longstanding entrepreneurial tradition at Hutchison is the annual student-run Beeline Bazaar. Each year, the junior class enlists vendors for the event, manages and negotiates contracts, markets the event, and balances the budget. Proceeds from the bazaar directly impact the community through the Hutchison Community Service Endowment Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis.
For her myExperience capstone project, part of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, Millie Malone ’25 held a voter registration drive where a representative from the League of Women Voters assisted our girls in registering.
Empathy. Discomfort. Controversy. Curiosity. Perspective. Engagement. These six words encompass a wide range of emotional and intellectual ideas. In the fall of 2020, when the Class of 2024 were freshmen, they started attending sessions to learn about civil discourse. While the world was still navigating the pandemic, it was a great time to practice how to have constructive conversations about things we agree on… and things we disagree on.
Rising juniors who are part of four myExperience cohorts in Hutchison’s Institute for Responsible Citizenship – global civic engagement, entrepreneurship, STEM, and art and design – explored their respective fields of study on trips to Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
A discovery in one science class led Izzy Ellis ’24 to delve deeper into her interest in biology and map out a path for college and beyond. Along the way, she nurtured other interests, from athletics to civics. An aspiring oncologist, her dream is to find a new, innovative treatment that could help save lives.
Our inaugural graduating class of the myExperience program presented their capstone projects with confidence, poise, and enthusiasm at our first myExperience Senior Showcase.
Avery Webb ’26 enjoyed the opportunity to shadow Rep. John Gillespie in Nashville as he interacted with state officials and legislators, and she even got to meet Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.