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The Academy of Entrepreneurship at Mountain Ridge H.S. is a Signature Program

Welcome to The Academy of Entrepreneurship at Mountain Ridge High School. As part of the National Academy Foundation program, your student is about to embark on a career-focused journey. Embedded within the Career and Technical Education, CTE, course offerings, this Academy is creating our future business owners! In the first year, 16 student businesses have been launched by high school students on campus! We now have 17 students that started a business WHILE in High School!  If you are coming from outside the Mountain Ridge school boundaries,  please be sure to go through the OPEN ENROLLMENT process with the district. 

Your gateway into this academy is through the Marketing-Advanced Marketing-CTE Internship pathway.  Marketing students can earn High School Economics Credits, 12 College Credits, 5 Honor Cords, DECA and NAF Scholarships, & Industry Certifications. There are other options to gain NAFTrack certification with Project Lead the Way, PTLW, courses on our campus.  The school offers BioMedical and Engineering options with PLTW.

Why the Academy of Entrepreneurship?

This is the program for those that might want to open their own business one day!  The students write a business plan during class.  They are connected with community leaders that can help advise them and prepare them to open a business.  We have had 16 businesses opened by our students while they were still in high school.  We have more in the pipeline. We also help develop your leadership skills.  We are home to the International DECA President for 2020-2021, Ms. Catherine Horton.  This academy can help you earn college credit, prepare you for your career, get you NAFTrack certified, and network you with business leaders. 

Where we have been and what we have done!

Our students travel every year and we are often invited to presentations at National Conferences.  Our students traveled to New York twice.  Once, for winning a Shark Tank competition…and Yes we met a Shark from the show!  And another time for our marketing and community service projects to Fortune 500 Business Leaders at a Gala hosted by Lenovo.

Student Troy Borman was named Peoria ¼â½ÐÊÓƵapptown Hero Entrepreneur of the Year for his Baseball Bat business. 

Find out more by signing up for Marketing at Mountain Ridge High School or contact jeffrey.samaniego@dvusd.org

The 4-Year Program of Study is as follows: to meet the student’s career interest with an internship requirement and opportunities for college credit with Dual Enrollment.

The JR/SR and CTE Internship (1.0) - Learning is not limited to the classroom. Internship opportunities are a supervised work-based learning experience in a paid or unpaid position within the CTE program of study.

The CTE internship provides on-the-job experience and valuable industry networking.

DECA and Academy Opportunities

Competitions:

DECA District Held on regional college campus's like ASU and GCU in January.

DECA State Held at the Arizona Grand Hotel during Late February and Early March each year.

DECA Internationals (After Competitions there are Business site visits that have included the Georgia Tech Brain Lab, The Angels baseball organization marketing seminar and tour, Behind the scenes at Disneyworld and Universal Studios, The Varsity, Chick-Fil-A headquarters, USA Volleyball tour, and more)

DECA National Conference Locations

Leadership Conferences:

(Business site visits have included the Laying of a Wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, The University of Washington tour, Snoqualmie Falls Tourism Group, The University of Texas Sports tour, Experience Music tour, Nordstrom tour, the Fish Market presentation, Starbucks presentation, and more)

Career and Volunteer Opportunities or Conferences:

(Opportunities for community service are constantly added and shared.  We have a few annual events that we host.  Career conferences provide learning about many components of the industry.  Businesses include: Marriott, Hilton, Doubletree, AZ State Fair, NIKE, Columbia Sports, The Timbers, The Hops, The Timberwolves, The Shark Tank Panel,  and more. )