"One of the best weapons against terror is youth empowerment through education, and SAGE is part of the secret arsenal," Major Miemie Winn Byrd, Deputy Economic Advisor, U.S. Pacific Command, told me after she served as a judge/panelist at a recent SAGE competition in Los Angeles. Byrd is now one of our biggest fans. "It's time to let the secret out of the bag," she said.
SAGE (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship) is a youth education program that combines commercial entrepreneurship with social entrepreneurship. I founded this program in 2002, and besides serving as its director, I am also a business professor at California State University, Chico.
Now operating in 12 countries, SAGE is a partner of Youth Venture, an Arlington, VA-based international youth organization that promotes social entrepreneurship.
The program pairs high school student teams with advisors from universities and businesses. The student groups receive business start-up funds of up to $1,000, with which they use to create a business and/or social program. At the end of the year, student teams are judged at SAGE tournaments, with the referees coming from the business and civic communities.
Last week eight state champion teams from six states came to New York City to compete for the title of USA SAGE champion and a place in the upcoming SAGE World Cup competition in Odessa, Ukraine. This year's winners were students from Northwestern Lehigh High School in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. They launched a parfait and lollipop business that earned $1,500 in its first year. Bryan Klass, the team's faculty adviser, said that he was equally as pleased with their community outreach projects. One project included importing Peruvian bracelets from Cuchuma, Peru, with most of the profits going back to the Peruvian village to build greenhouses. This project was one of many that fell under the "Hungry to Help" general theme of this year's team.
"SAGE gives students the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge by completing real-world ventures," Klass said. "All teams were fantastic, and I am proud that Pennsylvania will represent the U.S. in August at the international competition."
After the NYC competition, team photos were taken next to the 9/11 Memorial and Fire Station on Liberty Street, which is the southern border street where the Twin Towers collapsed. The photo of the winning team was taken with a U.S. flag (see photo attached). According to Klass, "The flag was lent to us by a firefighter that survived the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. He told us his story and was very proud of the flag and what it represents! He wished us well in representing the USA at the world competition!"
The SAGE World Cup takes place in Odessa, Ukraine 31 July to 4 August. Please see http://www.csuchico.edu/sage for details. The World Cup also includes a day of cultural exchange. Countries participating include Brazil, China, Ghana, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine and the USA. Singapore and Germany will observe.
SAGE's combination of social entrepreneurship, service-learning and interscholastic competition is potent. It is a powerful new education model whose time is come. Our Brazilian friends in Sao Paulo refer to SAGE as the Student Olympics for Sustainability. SOS--SAGE to the rescue! Next year, we plan to grow by five countries, including our first Muslim country, Morocco.