By Devin White

So, I was just thinking in class today, I feel like I don’t have enough time to devote to my inventions with school, sports, and such. DevinWhiteThen I had a sort of light-bulb moment, well not exactly. Who says innovation can’t be a class? Why not? I’m sure it’s out there somewhere but here it is.

My school runs on a two-day schedule, four classes a day, rotating times. Stonington High School runs two semesters; all core classes are full years and electives are half years. Our classes are 1 hour and 18 minutes. Now if you ran an innovative elective, one semester, that gives you 45 classes. Forty-five classes times the 1 hour and 18 minutes gives you 58.5 hours of class time. If I had that kind of time to innovate during the school year, I don’t know what I’d do with myself. I wouldn’t know what idea to pursue first!

Now the class itself can be as real as it would be if you weren’t in school. It’s my experience in school that the best programs and classes go far beyond the classroom and go into the community, into exploring the world, and into real world successes and accomplishments. You can have different steps such as:

  • Idea and Brainstorming
  • Design/Product Development
  • Business Plan
  • Marketing Proposal
  • Manufacturing Proposal
  • Product Proposals
  • Patent Applications

This curriculum of real-life innovating would not only nurture innovation skills but teach other skills such as public speaking for presentations, business ethics, financial product analysis, marketing, professional presentations, etc.

The possibilities to a course like this are endless: A student’s product makes it to market, a group of schools with similar courses get together and have a contest on the top ideas … who knows. Students deserve a chance to innovate, even during the school year when time is hard to find. Let’s Show the World…Don’t Stop Thinking.

Devin White

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Editor’s note: Devin White, 15, is our resident youth blogger.