WYOMING YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR INITIATIVE
YOUNG PEOPLE ARE WYOMING’S MOST IMPORTANT NATURAL RESOURCE.
Wyoming kids are not just about Wyoming’s future, we want to cultivate their abilities to solve problems today. The Wyoming Young Entrepreneur Initiative provides opportunities for young people to practice skills and to give an avenue for them to be problem solvers and innovators for Wyoming’s future. Skills such as empathy, the identification of problems, critical thinking, creativity, teamwork and prototyping are developed as a part of the practice of entrepreneurial thinking. The Wyoming Young Entrepreneur Initiative is made possible by a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation intended to promote innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset for youth in Wyoming.
WYOMING YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR PITCH CHALLENGE
WYAA believes that entrepreneurship is about more than starting a business. Entrepreneurial thinking is developed through practicing skills such as creativity, curiosity, the growth mindset, empathy, problem solving, and embracing failure. The Wyoming Young Entrepreneur Pitch Challenge began in the summer of 2020 as a contest for young people across the state to promote their ideas for goods and services that benefit communities and or the environment.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND STEAM LEARNING
One element of the Wyoming Young Entrepreneur Initiative is the Million Girls Moonshot. Just as the original moonshots of the 1960s and ’70s united the nation behind a common goal and dramatically advanced scientific achievement, the Million Girls Moonshot aims to create a national movement to change the trajectory of women and girls in STEM.
Entrepreneurship and STEM go hand-in-hand by helping young people apply creative thinking to become problem solvers. In fact, VentureLab calls it “ESTEAM.”
The Million Girls Moonshot provides an extraordinary opportunity for afterschool programs in Wyoming to make an enormous impact on the lives of all our youth, and particularly our girls. The future economy of our state and our nation will rely heavily on the STEM fields, and afterschool programs are uniquely situated to help prepare our youth for those career opportunities. Learn more at wyafterschoolalliance.org/million-girls-moonshot.
Mission: The Wyoming Afterschool Alliance is a statewide network working to create the conditions for young people to reach their full potential. We are a priority fund of the Wyoming Community Foundation.
Family of Funds
