One of the Most Meaningful Classes Ever

A few hours ago, thirty-two students at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy gathered on the high school stage to play a game of cards. The rules were simple: find a partner and flip through the deck of 52 cards in a series of four stages to ultimately narrow down to five cards.

These were not ordinary playing cards—instead, they were core value cards, with each card depicting one primary core value (community, wealth, service to others, family, etc.) In stage one, students went through each card and worked to narrow the list to 25 that were important to them. In the following stages, they narrowed the list even further until they were left with 10.

Then they considered, debated, and ultimately prioritized the cards to determine the five values that truly are essential to who they are. At the end of the exercise, each student was left with a deeper understanding of the things that motivate, excite, inspire, and fuel them, and the things that don’t.

The naysayer may say that this exercise is good but not valuable enough to warrant an entire class. To that person, I say that it doesn’t warrant an entire class—it warrants three entire classes. This is just the starting point—next, the students will embark on an exercise where they outline their current weekly schedule and color code it according to the core value represented by that block of time.

Through this, they will come to understand how much time (if any) they spend living in that core value each week. From there, they will be able to develop a personal growth plan which addresses not only what they stand for (their values) but also why they exist (their mission) and where they are going (their vision).

Entrepreneurial education that is based on impact and lasting change must touch upon the beliefs that will inevitably guide the behaviors. For us, the entrepreneurial mindset is a mindset of success in all areas of life that stems from knowing who we are, where we are going, and what we stand for—and the earlier we have this knowledge, the quicker we can act upon it.

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An entrepreneurship student working through the core values cards

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Stephen Carter