Pamlico County schools team to promote entrepreneurship

BAYBORO, N.C. -- Pamlico County is looking to small children – rather than big corporations – to help boost the local economy. Through Bayboro’s participation in NC STEP, schools throughout the county will be working to give children the knowledge and inspiration they need to one day start their own businesses.

“If you’re going to instill the entrepreneurial spirit in someone, you have to introduce them to the concept early,” said Cleve Cox, president of Pamlico Community College.

Teachers and department heads at Pamlico County Schools plan to attend a five-day training session this summer that will help them integrate entrepreneurship training into basic courses such as math, English and social studies. NC REAL Enterprises will provide the training, which will be funded with a $12,000 STEP grant.

Beginning this fall, all four Pamlico County schools – a primary, elementary, middle and high school – will begin integrating entrepreneurship training into their curricula. The schools plan to foster the entrepreneurial spirit in students from pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade.

As part of the program, students will be able to choose from eight different career paths, including family and consumer sciences, agriculture, industrial arts and engineering.

“Hopefully by the time students enter eighth grade, they will have selected a track and will be able to complete a senior project within their career aspiration area,” said James Coon, superintendent of Pamlico County Schools.

Though choosing a career path is not required, it will help students focus on which courses to take in both high school and college. It also will help students pursue job-readiness certifications through Pamlico Community College.

“As they get into college, they don’t waste a lot of time and money exploring which career to pursue,” Coon said.

In the course of their entrepreneurship training, students will learn about opportunities available at the community college to help them launch their small businesses. These include access to management and vocational courses, as well as the college’s Small Business Center, which provides one-on-one business counseling and help with business plan development. The college also is working with Pamlico County Schools to ensure their courses complement each other and do not overlap.

“We will work closely with the school district to try to create a seamless transition and work to make entrepreneurship part of the learning culture,” Cox said.

When Bayboro joined NC STEP in June 2008, it created a business and entrepreneurship committee to find innovative ways of creating jobs and promoting business. The committee concluded that large corporations alone would not sustain the local economy.

“Everybody agreed that small businesses are going to be what keeps Pamlico County going,” Cox said.

In preparation for teaching entrepreneurship in the school system, a team of elementary school, high school and community college instructors traveled to Norfolk, Va., to attend a national entrepreneurship conference.

Cox hopes the emphasis on entrepreneurship will help stem the flow of young people from Pamlico County to larger metropolitan areas.

“We hope we can tap that entrepreneurial spirit and make people realize they don’t have to leave,” he said. “Even after they leave, a lot of people decide to come back to Pamlico County because it’s a good place to raise children. We’ve got to give them something to come back to.”