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First-ever high school business
incubator course takes off in Barrington
Class creates student entrepreneurs through real-life curriculum, coaching from business leaders
By Morgan Delack
Media Relations & Social Media Assistant
Barrington 220 School District
The sense of excitement is overwhelming when
entering the doors of the Business Incubator
classroom at Barrington High School. This isn’t your
ordinary class.
“It’s going very, very well. It’s exceeding what our
original expectations were,” said Barrington 220
School District Superintendent Dr. Tom Leonard.
“The way to get started is to quit talking and start
doing.”
This Walt Disney quote is prominently displayed
on the wall of the Incubator classroom, and students
take the message to heart. Student teams gather
around office-like clusters in all corners of the room,
discussing finances and marketing ideas. The unique
setting feels more like the headquarters of Google or
Apple than a high school classroom, and the student
experience is simply one-of-a-kind.
“We wanted to create a concept where students
would walk through the classroom door, leave school,
and go to work,” said Karl Fruecht, co-founder of the
course. “We wanted the room to be so different that
you had a mindset change when you walked in.”
The Incubator course offered in Barrington 220
was launched in the 2013-2014 school year. Believed
to be the first of its kind in the nation, the one-year
course for 125 sophomores and juniors teaches
students how to launch, market and operate their
own businesses.
The idea for the class was the brainchild of
Fruecht and Michael Miles. As entrepreneurs
themselves, they saw a need for this type of
instruction at the high school level and developed the
unique curriculum for Barrington 220. The duo
believe people learn by doing, rather than learning
entirely from textbooks.
“Everything that we did was really focused on
creating an authentic experience.” Miles said. “Our
objective is to teach students the process of
entrepreneurship. We also share a much broader
perspective in wanting to see students launch
successful businesses.”
Creating a business idea is often daunting, so
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Barrington High School Business Incubator teacher Hagop Soulakian leads the classroom
