First Baptist Academy

Overview

Stephen Carter began working with First Baptist Academy in the spring of 2023 after head of school, Teresa Chambers, attended the Entrepreneurship Symposium at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. Teresa reached out to see if the entrepreneurship program could work in her school which ends at 8th grade. The answer was a resounding yes–Teresa stepped into the role herself and worked with a team of twelve eighth grade students to start a brand new program that led to the launch of a new business venture on the school’s campus.

Background Info

Houston is a competitive market for private schools and First Baptist Academy made the decision to differentiate themselves by embracing the entrepreneurial mindset in a meaningful way. Rather than just adopting a plug and play program, head of school Teresa Chambers took it upon herself to work closely with Stephen Carter on a full program design complete with curriculum, one-on-one coaching, monthly workshops, and key resources to directly impact the twelve 8th grade students in the pilot program. 

Evaluation

The program includes a semester-long deep dive into the four attributes of the entrepreneurial mindset including growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. Using a project-based learning approach, the students applied these attributes to the four stages of starting a business: ideation, creation, launch, and growth. In December, they launched their on-campus business and worked collaboratively to grow the business over the second half of the school year. Head of school Teresa Chambers said that the collaborative approach was key to the program’s success and differentiation:

“You know, Stephen, there are other schools out there that have started doing entrepreneurship, some right here in our city. But they aren’t doing it like we are. They’re not doing it from the entrepreneurial mindset perspective.

“Their students are working on their own or in small groups on set business ideas and they have a curriculum they follow, but they’re not focusing on growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking like we are. There’s something different about this approach and how it brings all our students together to collaborate.” - Teresa Chambers, Head of School, First Baptist Academy

Implementation

In December, twelve eighth grade students from First Baptist Academy launched the SWAP shop–the SWAP shop stands for “Serving With A Purpose” and this mission-driven business focuses on providing healthy, brain-boosting snacks to the community. Armed with this clear mission, vision, and values, the students have a natural filter on decision making—is this product connected to our mission? If so, we sell it, if not, we avoid it. You won’t find Oreo’s or candy bars at the SWAP shop–instead, you’ll find trail mix, dried fruit, healthy nuts, and more.

The intense focus on a mission, vision, and values stems directly from the program’s approach to defining a personal growth plan complete with a personal mission, vision, and core values prior to the collaborative building of a business so that they students are well-versed in the WHY before getting into the HOW and WHAT. This mission-driven approach helps bring clarity to the program’s purpose and create greater impact in the community.