How to Incorporate a KnoPro Challenge into Your High School Entrepreneurship Club: A Faculty Advisor’s Guide

As a faculty advisor to a high school Entrepreneurship Club, creating hands-on learning experiences is essential for engaging students and teaching real-world skills. One powerful way to do this is by introducing an online business case, like those offered by KnoPro. Case challenges enable students to analyze and develop solutions to common business problems, giving them a taste of the decision-making, collaboration, and creativity required in the business world. 

Below, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to use a KnoPro Challenge with your club!

Choose the Right KnoPro Challenge for Students 

The first step is to select the right KnoPro Challenge for your club. There are a number of factors to consider – the industry, the sponsor, the topic, the project, etc. Make sure the chosen challenge aligns with your students’ interests and the skills they want to develop. You may even want to select 2 or 3 options and let the club members vote on which one they are most drawn to. 

You can find a full list of current and KnoPro Challenges to choose from here.

Kick Off the KnoPro Challenge 

Once you’ve selected a Challenge, introduce it to your students. This is a great opportunity to ask open-ended questions or do a group work activity to understand what your students want to gain from completing the Challenge. Once you understand their objectives, you can explain how the Challenge can help develop Future Ready Skills. Goals like gaining real-world experience, building critical thinking skills, learning about a specific industry, or interacting with professionals in the field are often cited by students as their main priorities. When you kick off the Challenge, remember to clarify the objectives, timeline, and expectations to ensure everyone is on the same page.

You may also want to spend some time reviewing previous KnoPro Challenge winners. This can help students understand what a strong submission looks like and set a standard for the upcoming challenge.

Form Teams and Assign Roles 

KnoPro Challenges can be completed solo or in a team. This is a great time to have a conversation with your students about the benefits and drawbacks of working alone vs. with a team. It’s up to you if you want to guide them to a more team-based approach. 

If your students choose to work in a team, collaboration is key. For students working in teams, it may help to assign roles, like those you would see in a more traditional corporate team. Roles could include: 

• Project Manager: Ensures tasks are on schedule and that all team members are engaged
• Research Lead: Gathers information, statistics, and data relevant to the case
• Financial Analyst: Focuses on the financial aspects, if applicable, such as budgets or cost-benefit analyses
• Creative Director: Oversees branding and presentation, making sure solutions are engaging and visually appealing

Assigning roles encourages students to take ownership of the project and builds accountability within the team.

Research and Brainstorming Sessions 

As students start working on the challenge, organize structured brainstorming sessions where they can discuss ideas, refine strategies, and ask questions. Provide them with resources like reputable websites, articles, or databases to support their research. 

Act as a facilitator rather than directly providing solutions. Inspire students to think critically about each aspect of the problem and consider multiple approaches. By guiding them through this process, you’ll help them build problem-solving skills that will be useful in any business or professional setting.

You can also talk to students about how to conduct industry research and how to differentiate between reputable and non-reputable sources. You can also discuss how to request participation with informational interviews and how to best ask questions of the professionals — made available for student questions throughout the course of the Challenge.

Up Next: Peer Feedback Sessions 

Before the final submission, organize a mock presentation session, where each team presents its solution to the club. This is an excellent opportunity for students to practice their public speaking and persuasion skills and welcome constructive feedback from peers, to refine their ideas and improve their presentation techniques.

As an advisor, provide feedback that emphasizes strengths and identifies areas for improvement. Focus on aspects like clarity, logical flow, creativity, and feasibility. Remind students that the business world values innovative solutions that are grounded in realistic implementation plans.

Celebrate Completion and Reflect on Lessons Learned 

After submitting their final solutions, celebrate your students’ hard work! Hosting a reflection session allows students to evaluate their experiences and discuss what they learned. Prompt them with questions like:

• What did you enjoy most about the challenge?
• What was the biggest difficulty, and how did you overcome it?
• How can you apply the skills you gained in future projects?

Encouraging reflection helps solidify the lessons learned and boosts confidence, as they recognize their growth and accomplishments.

Final Thoughts

Using a KnoPro Challenge with your Entrepreneurship Club gives you a ready-to-go activity designed specifically to cultivate your students’ business acumen and skills. Interested in how a KnoPro Challenge could work for your club? Check out our current and upcoming Challenges here.

In January, we’ll be launching an Entrepreneurship Challenge with the Fleischer Scholars Foundation – you won’t want to miss this innovative opportunity!