Entrepreneurship and Business at Gilman

Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching, and running a new business. And, it's something we at Gilman take very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that we have developed a variety of offerings throughout the calendar year to engage current students in real-life examples of business building.

In addition to our signature Startup Experience and Spring Entrepreneurship class, we have created a number of related programs that expose current students to different career paths and alumni working in a variety of fields.

The Startup Experience and Spring Entrepreneurship Class

The Startup Experience

The Startup Experience is a two-day deep dive into the entrepreneurial experience. Teams of students are paired with alumni and parent mentors and guided through the process of identifying a problem, ideating a solution, and developing a viable business model. The culmination is a "Shark Tank"-like pitch session in which alumni judges evaluate the presentations and pick a winner.

Spring Entrepreneurship Class

The Spring Entrepreneurship Class takes the processes and lessons learned in the Startup Experience and spreads them out over a five-month period, allowing ideas to iterate, business plans to evolve, and pitches to be fine-tuned. Again, student teams are paired with alumni and parent mentors who help them put their ideas into action. And, again, the culminating Demo Day provides these budding entrepreneurs with a chance to pitch their business ideas to a panel of alumni judges. At least one of these ideas has turned into an actual — and thriving! — business.

Other Immersive Experiences

Senior Encounter

The capstone of students' senior year pairs students with Encounter mentors for a two-week internship in a field of interest that helps them see first-hand what it's like to work in that industry and what skills are necessary to succeed in life after Gilman.

Wall Street 101

An annual, day-long immersion into the New York world of finance for 15-20 students. The students are hosted by alumni working in investment banking, venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, and wealth management. The students meet with alumni at their firms to learn about their areas of expertise and hear about how they prepared themselves for careers in finance and how their careers developed. The day culminates with a panel discussion and networking reception.

Networking Opportunities

Dinner & Networking

A new event designed to introduce current students to local alumni working in professional fields of interest and the concept of the "Gilman Network," as well as to offer them a chance to network for a potential Senior Encounter opportunity.

Networking Breakfasts

Held annually in New York and Baltimore, these networking breakfasts bring together recent Gilman graduates with more seasoned alumni working in the financial industry, allowing the younger alums to learn about career development.

Student Clubs

The Business Club

Through a combination of classroom activity and on-site field trips, this extracurricular offering brings business-minded students real-world examples of best practices in a variety of industries.

The Investment Society

This newly-formed extracurricular offering provides students with an introduction to best practices in investment and culminates with a real-life online portfolio management competition.

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