Dominion High School marketing students will graduate in June with training in entrepreneurship. Starting in April and finishing at the end of May, the students in Sandra Tucker’s business and marketing class will complete 15 sessions of The Lemonhead Movement’s entrepreneurship program based on the thirteen principles in “The Lemonade Stand” book by Leesburg resident, entrepreneur and author Ara Bagdasarian and his business partner Nick Gustavsson.

Tucker ordered the books and “Lemon
Lessons” workbooks after searching for tools to support her desire to provide students with a foundation in entrepreneurship training. As the marketing teacher and DECA sponsor at Dominion High School she wants to
prepare students for success when they graduate and stated, “Entrepreneurship is a critical element in understanding the basic foundation of business for our
high school marketing students.  Entrepreneurial concepts translate beautifully into understanding the basics of any profession.  Teaching students the value of small business ownership develops an understanding of what our society needs to create a stable economy, which will ultimately benefit us all.”

Tucker’s launch of The Lemonade Stand curriculum follows Governor Bob McDonnell’s announcement declaring 2012 as “The Year of the Entrepreneur” in the state of Virginia and the continued debate covered in The Wall Street Journal about whether entrepreneurship can be taught.

Student’s sessions will include classroom instruction, individual activities, experiential learning, group
projects and a guest speaker. One component of The Lemonade Stand curriculum provides access to entrepreneurial speakers from members of The Loudoun Lemonhead Council. The council is a volunteer group of highly experienced, successful entrepreneurs and business executives organized to help local entrepreneurs start, grow, and succeed in their ventures. Any educator can submit a form to request volunteer guest speakers for their classroom while teaching the curriculum.

Author and entrepreneur Nick Gustavsson said, “When evaluating the current pain points for educators teaching entrepreneurship, teachers indicated they wanted to have more access to real-life entrepreneurs to interact with students. We thought that providing access to a group of highly exceptional and successful business people that want to support this mission would be a fantastic addition to the in-class instruction.”

The Lemonade Stand curriculum was created to fill the need for more programs to empower and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. This type of education gained momentum in the 1960s, and by 1985, more than 250 entrepreneurship courses have been created at
colleges throughout the country, according to the Kauffman Foundation. The number of entrepreneurship programs at colleges and universities has grown exponentially over the past decade, and high school students interested in business can start studying entrepreneurship best practices in preparation for their undergraduate studies through The Lemonade Stand program. The students at Dominion High School will receive a certificate in “Entrepreneurship Principles” when they complete The Lemonade Stand course.