HEBRON – Hebron Academy announced the EntrePrep Summer Institute, designed to educate rising juniors and seniors in business matters, which will take place July 15-21.

The residential program was announced Thursday at an event hosted by the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a great opportunity for high school students,” said Robert C. Caldwell, assistant head for advancement and external relations.

Hebron Academy was chosen to develop the pilot program over the next two years. The education for juniors and seniors will include 30 hours of course work and a national teaching staff.

The program will also feature skills development courses from Babson College and the Tuck School of Business. Students will form teams to create and run their own business on the last day of the program.

Entrepreneurs are not a new sight at the academy. Susan Stephenson, development officer at the school, said Hebron Academy is in its second year of an entrepreneurship and leadership program. She believes the existing program was a factor in the school receiving the grant.

Stephenson said EntrePrep will be a “highly intense, highly condensed” version of entrepreneurship and leadership. The latter program is more expansive, but only encompasses a couple of hours of noncurricular time per week.

In entrepreneurship and leadership, students hear success stories from alumni and keynote speakers and attend classes on business topics such as marketing, negotiating and budgeting.

Students also form teams and participate in the Entrepreneurial Challenge, during which they run personal businesses over a four- to eight-week period. Stephenson said this past year included student-run businesses that formed online communities and sold T-shirts and gift baskets.

The members of the teams who earn the most profit and show the most profit potential each receive a $500 scholarship.

This year’s winners were OneStop, a multipurpose service business which earned the most profit, and Hebron Poster, a photo-enlarging business that showed the most profit potential.

For the EntrePrep program, the school is partnering with registered Maine guides and instructors from the KieveWavus Leadership School in Nobleboro. These groups will offer leadership training complemented by outdoor activities such as hiking and canoeing.

“If they’re going to come to Maine,” said Caldwell, “they’ve got to have the Maine experience.”

The new program was announced in the Sargent Memorial Gymnasium as part of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce’s May Business After Hours event. Kelsey Jewell, executive director of the chamber, said Business After Hours takes place every month and is an opportunity for local businesses to network, meet people and announce news.

EntrePrep was founded by the National Council on Economic Education. It is funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The program will accept 24 students and cost $485.

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