Case Accelerator for Student Entrepreneurship

“The future belongs to those who endeavor to create it.”
— Steve Case (The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future)

In a world of accelerating change everyone benefits from the entrepreneurial mindset.

Whether you go on to work in government, for a nonprofit, as an intrapreneur within a larger corporation, or if you start your own business you’ll need to use the entrepreneurial mindset and invent new paths forward.

As Steve Case said in his 2008 Academy of Achievement interview: “You can be entrepreneurial even if you don’t want to be in business. You can be a social entrepreneur focused on the not-for-profit sector. You can be an agriculture entrepreneur if you want to change how people think about farming. You can be a policy entrepreneur if you want to go into government. The idea of an entrepreneur is really thinking out of the box and taking risks and stepping up to major challenges.”

Our Programs

To help students develop their entrepreneurial thinking, the CASE programs invite students to dive deep into their own personal journeys in entrepreneurship. Our students learn to turn their ideas and passions into concrete, marketable achievements.

List of 4 items.

Impact Incubator

Empowering student innovators to transform ideas into impactful ventures with hands-on, project-based learning, mentorship, and workshops.

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Student Entrepreneur Showcases

Celebrate creativity and innovation as students present their ventures, share their journeys, and inspire the community.

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Academy Entrepreneurship Courses

Explore unique courses that connect students with real-world insights, teaching leadership, strategy, and innovation.

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Distinction in Student Entrepreneurship

Recognizing students who demonstrate excellence in entrepreneurial thinking and create meaningful projects with real-world impact.

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Why Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship gives students real-world opportunities to apply the content and learning outcomes that they learn in other classes (kuana‘ike, critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, citizenship, kuleana). It encourages students to become active problem-solvers, turning problems into ideas, tangible projects, and solutions. When students engage in entrepreneurial activities, they learn to navigate uncertainty, build confidence, and develop a sense of agency. They learn that they can shape their own futures and make a better world.

Entrepreneurship naturally connects with civic engagement, sustainability, public service, global education, engineering, outdoor education, ‘Ike Hawaii, history, visual arts, science, language arts, theatre, and pretty much any field of study — by empowering students to create innovative, culturally rooted solutions that address global challenges, benefit our communities, and honor our local values.

Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting businesses. It’s a way of thinking, teaching our students to adapt and innovate. It cultivates essential skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, adaptability, creativity, empathy, learning from setbacks and failures, and calculated risk-taking. These skills are valuable in any career path, empowering tomorrow’s leaders to be proactive, resilient, and seize opportunities. Ultimately, entrepreneurship equips students with a mindset and skillset that are necessary to thrive in a world where history is accelerating.