#6: Inspiring Entrepreneurial Youth – The Story of eAcademy at Linden Pointe

#6: Inspiring Entrepreneurial Youth – The Story of eAcademy at Linden Pointe

I think we can all agree that helping people develop an entrepreneurial mindset can have its challenges. After all, you’re trying to change attitudes and behaviours – and most of us are creatures of habit and change doesn’t come easy. Leadership, room to operate outside the box and innovative thinking play a critical role in shifting mindsets. And when your audience is a room full of teenagers, you have your work cut out for you!

That’s the landscape for Lisa Evans, Founder & Director of the eAcademy at LindenPointe in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. Lisa is one of those inspirational leaders who has a unique approach and program to help high school seniors become more entrepreneurial. Her goal is simple but profound – to help prepare them for the world after high school as confident, creative, and thoughtful participants – maybe as a start-up founder, but equally valuable, as a contributing member of the community.

Listen as Lisa shares her engaging story and her advice to inspire entrepreneurial youth.

Start: How the program began…

10:00 – The Program Roots

  • The Program Mechanics
  • Overview, timing, activities, etc.

15:25 – Goals of the Program

  • Teaching students to make good choices
  • Connecting them to the community

17:10 – Collaborating to Create the Curriculum

  • 10 hours per week x 37 weeks = 370 Hours – Yikes!
  • A Typical Day
  • Getting Comfortable being Uncomfortable

23:30 – Catching the Entrepreneurial Bug

  • Startup Success Stories

30:00 – Challenges in the Beginning

  • Recruitment, Perception, etc.

32:50 – Lessons Learned

40:25 – The Impact

46:00 – What’s Next?

This Podcast is also available on the Podbean desktop site, the Podbean mobile app, and the iTunes store.


The Entrepreneurial Podcast showcases high energy, positive, entrepreneurial thinkers and doers. On the show, host Wendy Kennedy, looks for unique and unusual stories of entrepreneurial success – people doing inspiring and amazing things to ignite entrepreneurs, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. Each interview unpacks tools, tips and lessons learned mixed with laughter, fun, and casual, coffee bar conversations. Wendy is recognized internationally for her entrepreneurial toolkit, So what? who cares? why you? used by inventors to turn their novel science and tech ideas into start-up success.

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