The incubator program will be added to LZHS’s courses next year, giving students a chance to develop and sell their products on the market. 

“It’s similar to Shark Tank[…] and it’s really great. Kids work with their teacher and they also work with community members to create a product that they can then market, sell, pitch, and refine throughout the school year of a class. By the end of it they hopefully have an actual product of some type that they’re able to, patent or sell,” Erin DeLuga, principal, said. 

This honors business course will be open to any sophomore through senior featuring a new STEAM area with a room for the incubator program specifically designed to “stimulate a real-world business environment,” Angela Fortune, division head of fine arts and business, said. 

In this business environment, students will typically work in groups of four and may be “funded by business partners and also by potential foundation grants. Businesses are typically not funded more than $250 per group and kids have to be pretty creative on how they try to attain other types of funding sources,” DeLuga said. 

But the creativity doesn’t stop there. Any student can create any product of their choice.

“I think the coolest thing about the program is that it’s really for any student. They don’t necessarily have to be on a business career path. It’s totally a student’s choice of what their interests are and how to make that come to life,” Fortune said.