HARLINGEN — The sharks bore down on the young students.
The students, young entrepreneurs from Dr. Abraham P. Cano Freshman Academy, seemed to wince slightly while their eyes stared back at the hungry beasts. They’d worked hard to develop their proposal, and they would defend it against these sharks at all costs.
The sharks, five members of the business community, sat at a table and looked squarely at the students. They seemed to relish the opportunity to pick their ideas apart, examine every detail, pepper them with questions and show them how to do it better.
At the “Shark Tank Final Presentation” yesterday, 27 students from Cano defended projects they’d had only one week to prepare.
The three young entrepreneurs currently facing down the sharks had unveiled their proposal for “Sarcastic Font.”
“It’s a slanted keyboard,” said Cara Cash, 14. “It indicates when someone is being sarcastic in a text.”
“We spent one week on it,” added fellow team member Laura Macmanus, 15.
“The teachers helped us figure out a product and how to give a presentation,” she added.
The five “sharks” were part of the Heroes for Harlingen program. As part of the program, teachers are paired with local businessmen and businesswomen who share their real world experiences. Teachers take that knowledge with them to their classrooms and incorporate what they’ve learned into their lessons.
Teachers from three departments, or “endorsements” at Cano — Business and Industry; STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math); and Public Service — performed three-day externships with Heroes in Harlingen. Those “Heroes” included Michelle Robinson from Texas Regional Bank, and David Flinn with Farris, Flinn and Medina.
Endorsements refer to the five endorsements, or pathways to graduation, as outlined by House Bill 5. The Harlingen school district is currently building on that initial concept as it redesigns the Career and Technology Education department.
For the Shark Tank project, only students from the Business and Industry endorsement participated. They had a week to prepare their proposals, and a presentation was held last week. Yesterday’s event was for the remaining nine teams.
Superintendent Art Cavazos said teachers from the Business and Industry endorsement who spent their externships at Texas Regional learned about finances and loans.
The five “sharks” or Heroes asked specifics about the projects regarding the business end of them.
For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.
Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.
