A Young Entrepreneurs Academy class in Pensacola. Students at Pace High School this year joined the Academy.

A group of Pace students who started the school year with just the spark of an entrepreneurial idea hope to end the year with a set of new businesses next spring.

This is the first year for the Pace High School Young Entrepreneurs Academy, with 28 students enrolled in the elective program.

“YEA is a cutting-edge program that takes students through the process of starting and launching a real business or social movement over the course of the school year,” said Charlin Knight, director of workforce education for Santa Rosa the School District.

“By the end of the class, students (will) own and operate fully-formed and functioning businesses, which may be carried on after their graduation from the program,” Knight said. “YEA aims to teach students how to make a job, not just take a job.”

The Studer Community Institute believes promoting education and entrepreneurship are essential parts of a prosperous community, as measured by college and high school graduation rates, labor force participation rates and per capita income — all among the 16 metrics of the Studer Community Institute Dashboard.

The dashboard, created in collaboration with the University of West Florida, is a snapshot of the community’s economic, educational and social well-being.

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy was founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester with support from the Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

The Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce has sponsored a Young Entrepreneurs Academy since 2013. This year’s class includes 16 students, the most to date. It is open to students from fifth to 12^th grades in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

The Pensacola Young Entrepreneurs Academy meets on Tuesday nights at the offices of Global Business Solutions, Inc. in Pensacola. 

"The program runs parallel to the school year. We just started our third year class here on Tuesday, Nov. 3," said Randy M. Ramos, CEO of Global Business Solutions, who leads the Pensacola YEA.

"Students will transition their idea into a business plan and pitch there business plan to a panel of investors who will provide seed money to start their business.  Students will get their business license, and we will host a trade show during Pensacola Gallery Night before the school year ends."

Eve and Liam Knight, of Gulf Breeze, finished third in the national Young Entrepreneurs Academy competition.

Gulf Breeze siblings Eve and Liam Knight last year made it to the YEA national finals with their Spice Kidz line of spice packets for Indian-style dinners. They finished third in the national finals in Washington, D.C.

The Pace program is offered as a class during the regular school day, but works much the same. The Santa Rosa County Chamber of Commerce is helping with the Pace program.

“In this (nine months of class time), students will brainstorm and form their enterprises, make pitches to real investors, obtain funding, file their DBA’s, and by the end, actually launch their own business or social movement,” Knight said. “Business mentors and local entrepreneurs across a variety of industries will support the students throughout the program. All of the learning is real and experiential.”

The YEA curriculum takes students from forming the business idea to presenting their proposal to an investor panel.

“We will spend the spring of the school year actually launching those businesses and continuing to provide students with the resources they need to take those businesses to the next level,” Knight said, “The YEA program provides us with all of the details including daily lesson plans and a wealth of resources, templates and suggestions.”

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy program employs business leaders from the community to help the students.

“We have 17 business ideas among the 28 students enrolled in the academy,” Knight said. “Some students are sole proprietors, some are partners and some are part of a team. Each business idea has been paired with a YEA business mentor.”

Right now, the program is seeking sponsorships and investors from the private sector.

"There are various levels of financial commitment from $500 up to a $2,500 sponsorship which secures a seat on the investor panel coming up in early 2016," Knight said.

"We even have opportunities for in-kind services like printing. We have a local salon that will be donating a makeover and a dress shop donating a business dress for a student when we take students on the field trip to talk about projecting the right image at the investor panel. There are many opportunities for individuals and businesses to donate time, services or money."