Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation were the focuses of this year’s Graboys Leadership Symposium at Tabor Academy on October 20.
This annual event, now in its third year, was kicked off by a presentation by Alan Harlam, a professor at Brown University. He founded Brown’s Social Innovation Initiative, which provides support and guidance to Brown students with ideas for social entrepreneurship.
Harlam showed the Tabor community examples of students who had founded their own nonprofit organizations with creative solutions, and asked the audience for ideas for problems to solve. Many Tabor students volunteered answers, their concerns ranging from providing musical education for everyone to care for terminally ill patients.
Melissa Bride, Tabor Academy’s dean of students and organizer of the symposium, explained that one of the main goals of this event was to inspire students.
“We want everyone to see that their passions have real-life applications,” said Bride. When planning the event, Bride wanted to make sure she covered different sectors so that everyone in attendance had something that they were interested in.
Bride worked with Patrick Keane, who ran a workshop on Social Entrepreneurship at Middlebury College, to plan the day and pick the sectors and entrepreneurs. Tabor invited entrepreneurs from six sectors – Environment/Marine Science, Energy/Power, Arts/Education, Global Issues, Health and Wellness, and Tech/Biotech – to share their stories with the community.
The morning keynote speaker, Jim Deters, focused heavily on the importance of learning from mistakes as well as the importance of creative problem solving. He shared his own experience with his company, Galvanize, which works to empower young entrepreneurs and provide funding and support as they attempt to develop their ideas into a working business model.
Candida Brush, a professor at Babson College, spoke about her experience working with undergraduates to create new startups.
After Deters and Brush spoke to the students and faculty, they broke up into groups based on which sector interested them most. There, a social entrepreneur from that sector (some alumni of Tabor, others local entrepreneurs) gave a presentation to everyone there. Then, students broke out into smaller groups to generate ideas for possible innovative businesses.
“I can’t wait to see what lasting ideas resulted from this event,” said Bride.
The groups generated ideas such as plans to implement solar panels at Tabor, programs that provide access to art, sports, and mentoring for younger disadvantaged kids, and ways to make healthcare more accessible.
Tabor ended the day by sharing ideas and then Bride encouraged students to contact any of the entrepreneurs or keynote speakers today if they have any interest in entrepreneurship.
“The day made me realize that anyone can be an entrepreneur, not just adult business men,” said Claire Brito, 16.
There is already talk underway of implementing some of the ideas at Tabor. Students and visitors alike agree that this day was a success, and everyone is excited to see what real solutions result from these ideas.
By Madeleine Gregory
