Innovation Huddle

Testimonial #1: “As a parent, I recognize skills that she’s picked up and improved on in her 2 years since she’s been in the program. Things that she doesn’t even know she’s learning. Most other parents here worry about my kids every day, you know their day to day activities. I worry about their future all the time. I wonder if they are going to be prepared for life. Are they going to be prepared for success? Will they have the skills, support, and resources they need to succeed? As a mother, I want to thank the board staff and executives, Jerome Bettis and his foundation, and anyone else who’s contributed to this program because life can be hard. My grandmother used to say “we all have our own process to bear, we all have our own struggles that we go through so that people don’t have to do it”. It truly warms this mother’s heart, to know, see, and feel that other people have invested time, energy, and money to our kids to give them a boost towards something better and telling them to reach for the stars. I just want to say thank you. Your contributions are recognized, appreciated, and definitely won’t be forgotten. Hopefully our families and kids can pay it forward.” – Parent

 

Testimonial #2: “I think this is a great way to teach our children about running their own business. The program has created a sense of pride in the kids along with responsibility.”- Parent

 

Testimonial #3: “This is a wonderful program. It really helps guide the kids into entrepreneurship.”- Parent

 

Testimonial #4: “I’m thankful for Innovation Huddle for allowing my son Noah Rivers the opportunity to explore this program. It has brightened his mind about computers. Great job to all staff members. Thank you!” – Parent

 

Testimonial #5: “My name is Kayla and I am a part of the Innovation Huddle Program. A few things I like about the Innovation Huddle Program is that we get to do coding and we get to learn how to be entrepreneurs. I learned how to make my own business, how to create a vision board, and how to work in groups. I also learned how to code and make my own website.” – Student

 

Testimonial #6: “Thank you to the Innovation Huddle Program because I have now learned how to build my own website . At first, I thought it was very complicated and hard but since I came to the program it has been easy.” – Student

 

Testimonial #7: “The kids are really taking to the information. We work with primarily 5th graders and they are really absorbing the material and catching up quickly. I think they are absorbing it quickly because they have already been exposed to technology. So it transfers from content consumers into producers and now they are creating their own websites and businesses and I think that is what is giving them fire and fuel for later on in life.” – Instructor

 

Testimonial #8: “Innovation Huddle gives our children hope, opens new doors to become something greater showing new ways to make it out here to be given the opportunity to do something with their lives. Everything starts at home but Innovation Huddle is a place to go to learn hands on. I see the greatness not just in my sons, but in everyone. There are programs and people out here that not only help our children but help us as parents as well. When I see the amount of work and time Innovation Huddle puts into our kids, I consider it a blessing. The work they do and the words they say are things I never had when I was going to school. So from me and my sons we really thank you for everything that y’all have done for us. Innovation Huddle is a blessing to us all and we are really grateful.” – Adrian

 

Success Story:  The Innovation Huddle program equipped me with the necessary skills to experiment with my personal interests. It was because of this program I was able to have my own business in middle school. Working with groups of students from other schools allowed me to improve on my communication and collaborative skills. The encouraging nature of the mentors within the program made me more open and receptive to feedback and caused me to consider different perspectives when thinking of cost of production, profitability, feasibility, and other various factors in business. Additionally, when I had to leave the program during high school, I realized I had an interest within the entrepreneurial industry and joined business class in my sophomore year. I found out that I did not like entrepreneurship, but I liked the advertisement industry which led me to an advertising program. The program is known as the Detroit Experience Studio and it is an advertising program that teaches highschool upperclassmen about the intricacies of the advertisement industry. Currently, I hold the highest student position within the program (Peer Facilitator), have been on multiple company sponsored trips, and I am working hard to earn an internship within the company. Overall, I would have never gotten this far without the help of Innovation Huddle, so thank you so much for your influence. I do not believe I could have done it myself.” – Bria