Bardstown High School student Emi Mizutani has been selected to attend the Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs (GSE).
The three-week residential program brings high school students from across the state together and equips them with the tools needed to unleash their innate entrepreneurial spirits for the betterment of Kentucky. Teams of students develop a business model, design a prototype and pitch their startups to a panel of judges. GSE teaches the opportunities, benefits, and pitfalls of taking a business concept from the idea phase to pitching it to potential investors.
The Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs is a highly competitive summer program. Participants are selected through a competitive process that does not consider grade-point average or test scores, and the experience is free for all participants. GSE’s application is structured to identify creative problem-solvers who want to roll up their sleeves and dive head-first into creating something meaningful. Mizutani is one of the 145 students across the Commonwealth selected to attend GSE.
While all participants gain vital entrepreneurial skills through the program to use as they enter the workplace or continue into higher education, more than 30 new businesses have been launched by GSE alumni since it started. Others have filed for multiple patents and developed new ideas and relationships that sow the seeds for more business formation.
Dozens of alumni have chosen to enroll in entrepreneurial programs at Kentucky universities and attribute this decision to the inspiration they received by attending GSE in high school. Through partnerships with collegiate partners, GSE provides more than $5 million in scholarship funding opportunities to Kentucky high school students each year. GSE fosters and empowers the commonwealth’s future business owners and community leaders, giving these teens the support they need to go from high school students to business owners.
Bardstown City Schools would like to commend this incredible young woman for her achievement. We can’t wait how this amazing program will impact Emi’s future.
