Middle School Girls Get Taste of EntrepreneurshipProgram piques entrepreneurial interest and helps student entrepreneurs start and run their own businesses

In a recent survey of students in grades 7 to 12 commissioned bytheSimmons Schoolof Managementin Boston andThe Committee of 200, a businesswomen'sgroup, just 9 percent of girls polled listed business as a careerthey'd like to pursue. If posed to students atThe Girls' MiddleSchool(GMS) in Mountain View, California, this question maynet different results.

For four years, seventh graders at the school have had theopportunity to participate in the Entrepreneurial EducationProgram, a class where students create, run and seek funding fortheir own ventures. Each business is run during the school year bya team of four students with the help of two volunteer coaches fromlocal businesses and an eighth grade mentor who went through theprogram the year before.