Lehigh Steps Up to Save Former PA Governor’s School

Through a commitment by Lehigh University, the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Global Entrepreneurship program has been saved and will be run under a new name, The Pennsylvania School for Global Entrepreneurship (PSGE). Action to continue the innovative summer program was made by Lehigh in response to parental concern about the closure of all eight program locations across the state due to state budget cuts that eliminated all program funding in 2009.

“Lehigh is committed to educating students for an ever increasingly global world,” said Dick Brandt, Director of the Iacocca Institute, Office of International Affairs at Lehigh University. “Continuing this venture fits with Lehigh’s focus on encouraging entrepreneurship and marks our determination to not miss the opportunity to continue to teach entrepreneurial concepts and business and leadership skills to students who may one day be the future leaders of the state of Pennsylvania. There is a lack of opportunities for gifted and entrepreneurship education in the state of Pennsylvania and we saw there was a real need to continue this kind of programming.”

The PSGE program is designed for the “best and brightest” of Pennsylvania’s high school students. The program will remain the same in content, length and selectivity as the former Governor’s School. Cost for the program, previously funded by the state, will now be provided by the participating families and the management costs are partially underwritten by the Iacocca Institute, Office of International Affairs at Lehigh University.

PSGE brings Pennsylvania high school students (ages 15-18) together with international high school students from all regions of the world for a five-week residential learning experience from June 27-July 31, 2010. The program will focus on the topics of global entrepreneurship, leadership, team building, innovation, creativity, and doing business around the world. Students will have the opportunity to participate in large and small group seminars and workshops, visit businesses and industries throughout the Lehigh Valley area. Student groups will also have the opportunity to work closely with a successful entrepreneurial company in tackling a business challenge, with each student group preparing a business report and making a formal presentation to the company as a learning outcome.

Selection to the program is competitive. In 2009, 180 families petitioned to send their son or daughter to the program and only sixty-three Pennsylvania and thirteen international students were selected to attend.

Sherry Yang of Maple Glen, PA, a 2009 PSGE alumnus states, “The program not only gave me a background in business and introduced me to people working in all spectrums, but it also gave me the confidence and energy to become a better intern and student. I have been attending academic summer programs since middle school. I have been to multiple sessions of Johns Hopkins’s CTY program and to the Junior Statesmen of America’s political summer program at Princeton University. I have immersed myself in school activities. This year marks my second year as both Editor-in-Chief of my school newspaper and Co-President of Model United Nations. I have interned with the Red Cross and volunteered in the Philadelphia area with members of our church’s youth group. None of those activities, I repeat, none of them, can compare to what this program has given me.”

A unique feature of the program is the participation of international students that live and study with the Pennsylvania students. To date, the program has had participation from international students representing Afghanistan, Antigua Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe.

“The presence and active participation of the international students in the global entrepreneurship program have provided us with the essential global component of our program,” said Angela Urbano of Bethlehem, PA, a 2006 program alumnus. “By working alongside them we have experienced their cultures and their countries and have gained new perspectives from around the world.”

Applications and further information can be found at www.iacocca-lehigh.org, and click on High School program. For specific questions, please contact Trisha Alexy, Director, at tsa2@lehigh.edu. Applications are now being accepted. The five-week program fee which includes all housing, food, tuition, course materials, activities and field trips is US $2950. Limited partial scholarship funding is available in 2010 for students selected with demonstrated financial need.