Year over year, Gallup student polls have revealed a disturbing, but unsurprising trend: student engagement in school declines steadily with each grade, and sharply from elementary to middle to high school. One of the proven contributors to this decline over time is the inability of many schools to build the strengths of each student and make learning relevant. This is especially true for the nearly 50% of polled students who have entrepreneurial ambitions.

So what can schools do? If you ask Don Wettrick, CEO and Co-Founder of the StartEdUp Foundation, the answer can be found in the word purpose. For 20 years, Don has taught students to connect to a larger life purpose through innovation and entrepreneurship. What started in the classroom, has grown into a global network of renowned innovators, educators and entrepreneurs. The StartEdUp network is dedicated to helping teachers and students change education by building innovation and entrepreneurship into the fabric of the classroom. In this episode Don talks about the StartEdUp story, what it looks like in action, and how educators and school leaders can get started.

Connect with Don and StartEdUp:

Website: https://startedupfoundation.org/ and http://www.startedupinnovation.com/

Twitter: @donwettrick and @letsstartedup

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donwettrick/

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Special thanks to Scott Holmes for our intro music. You can check out more from him at https://scottholmesmusic.com/.

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