IMPACT Innovation & Entrepreneurship Camp
Much more than just a camp.
IMPACT is a seven-day summer Innovation & Entrepreneurship camp at Taylor University for high school juniors and seniors who want to be change-makers and IMPACT the world by turning their ideas into reality.
Much more than just a camp? Yes! IMPACT is an entrepreneurship lab experience designed to help students develop their God-given leadership abilities in order to prepare them to transform society for the common good. It has three phases: Preparation, Immersion, and Acceleration. By the end of the program, students will have turned their ideas into ready-to-be-launched ventures!
Dates: July 14-19, 2024
Cost: $990 - Scholarships are available!
Teachers, guidance counselors, pastors, mentors, and parents: use the link below to nominate a high school student to be a part of IMPACT!
Are you a student who would like to be nominated for IMPACT? Please email us at IMPACT@taylor.edu.
Who is IMPACT for?
IMPACT is a program designed for high school juniors and seniors who have been noticed in their communities for their entrepreneurial minds and leadership potential. What makes IMPACT unique is that we focus on getting to know you for who you are and what you care about. And that is because by understanding your passions and values, we can help you to develop your ideas into successful businesses.
We challenge you to take real-world action in response to your ideas! During the Immersion season, IMPACT students are placed in peer groups, and together create an innovative project plan to pitch to a panel of judges for the chance to win seed money and start their own businesses. You’ll be engaged in many different activities focused on problem-solving and entrepreneurship, such as:
Through personalized leadership coaching, we will help you identify your unique strengths and help you recognize strengths in others
Practice networking through peer-to-peer discussions
Seminars and workshops with world-class speakers from government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors
All while having fun outside the classroom and challenging your definition of teamwork through experiential learning on Taylor’s campus.
About Impact
Application Process
Admissions begin with the nomination of students by teachers, guidance counselors, pastors, mentors, and parents. After students have been nominated, they will receive an invitation to apply. Once applications are received, they will be evaluated by the IMPACT team. Students will receive an email notifying them of their admission to IMPACT and assigning them the tasks for the Preparation Season.
Preparation Season
After being accepted, students will receive a few assignments via email. That is when students are requested to submit an idea of a business model, a ministry opportunity, a product concept, a non-profit organization, or a real-world issue. During the IMPACT Immersion week, students will be trained to transform ideas into potential winning concepts.
Immersion Week
Students will work together to build a business from the ground, by expanding their own ideas or by addressing a real-world problem in a summer-camp-style week on Taylor Campus. By the end of the week, each group will have developed a stable concept that offers a solution to their assigned problems.
Acceleration Season
For ten months following Immersion, students will accelerate their projects with online interaction and regular meetings, and the opportunity to pitch their project in a Shark Tank-like event to win prizes to then launch their ventures! At the end of the program, each group will have all the necessary tools, information, and minimum skills to build a successful venture.
The Impact of Faith
At IMPACT, we ground our commitment to leadership development in a framework that prizes serving others, caring for the community, and thinking more highly of others than ourselves. This servant-leadership paradigm is fundamental to how we approach the development of entrepreneurs and the kind of ventures they pursue. Through this weeklong, immersive experience, you’ll be exposed to entrepreneurial exemplars, people of faith who embody the values and virtues of servant-leadership who are spiritually grounded and represent the best of the Christian community’s contribution to the common good.
Contact Us
Questions? Email impact@taylor.edu to get answers.
Mick Bates
Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Professor of Entrepreneurship
- D.Mgt, George Fox University
- MBA, Regent University
- BS, United States Military Academy