Bruce Krier Charitable Foundation Awards Grant for Entrepreneurship Education
By Ray York, Business Counselor for the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW-Green Bay
Sheboygan County, WI – Bruce Krier was a Sheboygan County business owner who attributed his good fortune to hard work, education, and the opportunities his community provided. Today, the Bruce Krier Charitable Foundation’s mission is to fulfill Bruce’s vision in supporting education and environmental stewardship in Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties. Sheboygan Area School District (SASD) will provide area students with more opportunity in implementing an entrepreneurship program, called INCubatoredu, that will teach in-depth business skills. A goal of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) is to work with educational institutions and other nonprofit organizations to create entrepreneurial classes and programming, and the SCEDC is working with SASD to implement the INCubatoredu program.
The SCEDC Foundation is proud to announce the award of a $10,000 grant from the Bruce Krier Charitable Foundation for the project of INCubatoredu. “We are glad we can carry on Bruce Krier’s mission and support our areas schools while preparing our students to be successful, committed, citizens,” said Gary Dulmes, Chair of the SCEDC Foundation. “We are extremely thankful for the grant that supports education in our communities, and it will provide opportunities for our area students. We will help drive Bruce’s mission forward in this project!”
SASD understands the importance of teaching entrepreneurship and the INCubatoredu program is a proven model throughout the United States. “This program offers students an authentic entrepreneurship experience,” said Graig Stone, SASD department chair and business education and information technology teacher. “INCubatoredu is a year-long program where students create and fully develop their own product or service. Volunteer experts serve as coaches and mentors helping student teams through the processes of developing hypotheses about a business concept, testing those hypotheses, adapting, and continually learning and improving.” This experimentation is combined with foundational marketing and finance content and teaches students the adaptability and communications skills needed in the workforce today.
“Entrepreneurship education is essential to addressing our continuously changing community needs,” stated Jason Duff, Academic and Career Planning Coordinator. “When entrepreneurship principles are taught, we get a more adaptable workforce, which is better equipped to deal with a multitude of environments, has better analytic and problem-solving skills, creative and design ability, social awareness, and collaborative communication. The Bruce Krier Charitable Foundation is helping provide this opportunity to our students.”
Thanks to the Bruce Krier Charitable Foundation’s generous grant, the SASD, SCEDC, and Sheboygan County employers can work together on entrepreneurial education while meeting our fast-changing needs in Sheboygan County, in order to drive more success in our communities!
For more information about the Bruce Krier Charitable Foundation please email at brucekrierfoundation@gmail.com or mail to P.O. Box 307 Random Lake, WI 53075.
For more information about, donating to, or coaching/mentoring opportunities for, the INCubatoredu program at SASD please email Jason Duff, Academic and Career Planning Coordinator, at jduff@sasd.net or call (920)459-6493.
For more information about SCEDC entrepreneurial services please email at info@SheboyganCountyEDC.com or call (920)452-2479.
