Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy

Overview

Ten years ago, a rolling coffee cart concept at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy began a rapid growth trajectory ultimately leading to a full-fledged program complete with six full time faculty members, fourteen elective courses, six student-run businesses (on campus) and a certificate track.

The ultimate win, however, was discovering engaging ways to teach the four attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset: growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. The entrepreneurship program at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy has become the defining model of how this innovative approach to education can transform an entire school--a model that program director Stephen Carter is now implementing in schools around the nation.

Problem

Back in 2014, we discovered that student engagement was dropping and that we needed more hands-on learning with practical tools for engagement. Traditional educational approaches were no longer working as well as they used to and students were seeking practical training for success in life.

Solution

Out of this problem, entrepreneurship was born. Rather than starting with an expensive innovation space, we starting with a pilot program featuring a rolling coffee cart. The student interest soared and within a year, we had built a permanent location for the Leaning Eagle Coffee Bar which has been the flagship student-run business ever since. Student interest has driven the program growth from a single class to over 14 classes overseen by six full-time faculty members.

Implementation

The key differentiator for a thriving entrepreneurship program that engages students in a meaningful way is a student-run business. Through this approach, students can develop an ownership mentality as they work collaboratively to solve programs and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Under the direction of program director Stephen Carter, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy used the success of the first business, the Leaning Eagle Coffee Bar, to launch:

Eagle Farms - a direct to consumer produce business housed in the school's impressive 4,000 sq. ft greenhouse

Eagle Pizza, Co. - a wood-fired pizza business featuring student-grown basil, handmade dough, and sauce from tomatoes grown on campus

CHCA Supper Club - a fine dining restaurant serving multi-course experiences in the school's state-of-the-art teaching kitchen.

The Mini Cup - a thriving drink-focused cafe run exclusively by 7th and 8th grade entrepreneurial students

CHCA Baking Club - a brand-new venture that creates delicious baked goods to be sold at the location of other on-campus businesses

Results

This program has grown to become a massive differentiator in the community and has driven revenue from three primary sources: student-run business revenue that is used to start new ventures; donor engagement (especially with alumni parents); increased enrollment across all grade levels. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy is known for Christ-centered entrepreneurial education and students are choosing to come to the school because of this.

Conclusion

This program has been growing for ten years, but using best practices and techniques developed on-site including a robust curriculum, program director and Seed Tree Group founder Stephen Carter is able to package the learnings into a service where he can start effectively work with schools and start them at year six rather than at year one.