*Initiative on hold due to pandemic

HESE for High School

Bellefonte Area School District, in partnership with other educational institutes such as Bald Eagle and Penns Valley area school districts, is working with Penn State’s Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship program to help create a course focused on business, innovation and entrepreneurship that will be open to students at Bellefonte Area High School as early as the 2020-21 school year.

"Students will work with the community, will work with entrepreneurs, they will figure out what people need and work toward the design process of creating, solving and helping with solutions," Bellefonte Area School District Superintendent Michelle Saylor said.

According to Principal Mike Fedisson, the course is based on what the HESE program calls D3 – discover, design, delight – and will be a semester in length with the IDEA Hub as an extension to allow students continued time to elaborate on their ideas from school.

To learn more about HESE at High School, visit this link: HESE at High School

Course description

This two-credit course incorporates English-language arts standards with humanitarian social issues and the entrepreneurial process. Through literature and research, you will engage in discussions and debates about social issues, brainstorm ideas and ultimately develop products or services that address these issues. You will work to find big community problems and find impactful human-centered solutions. You will develop communication skills, oral and written, in order to work with a variety of stakeholders including colleagues, businesses and organizations. Finally, you will develop sustainable business models to pitch and launch social ventures that could changes peoples’ lives.