Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined 1871 CEO Howard Tullman, and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chief Education Officer Dr. Janice Jackson at Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts in Washington Park to announce an innovative new program that will provide high school students with lessons on entrepreneurship in technology by prominent local entrepreneurs. This new program, a joint initiative of 1871 and CPS, will pilot at Dyett High School this spring, providing students an 8-week seminar on what it takes to become an entrepreneur in the 21st century. Later this month, 20 freshmen will begin participation in this first-of-its-kind seminar that will give them an opportunity to learn key entrepreneurship principles directly from local entrepreneurs themselves, and to receive personalized mentoring in the process.

The Eagle Entrepreneurs Group is the brainchild of 1871’s Tullman and Dyett’s principal, Beulah McLoyd. It incorporates Dyett’s own Algebra and Entrepreneurship courses, and Tullman’s book “The Perspiration Principles,” based on the principles he’s used at 1871 to help hundreds of entrepreneurs and small businesses to launch and thrive in Chicago since its founding. The goal of this partnership is to supplement the school’s arts and tech-focused curriculum by giving students and opportunity to think and solve problems commonly found in today’s growing STEM industries and in the digital age. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in STEM and computer science-related fields are growing faster than any other industry. Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts re-opened earlier this year with a new dual focus on the arts and community innovation lab component, and based on input from the community.