BELTON, Texas — The popular television show "Shark Tank" made its way out of California and into a classroom at Lake Belton High School on Tuesday.
It's part of the the INCubatoredu program the district offers to upperclassmen. It gives authentic entrepreneurship experience, with the help of local business owners.
More than 40 students took the opportunity to deliver their business ideas to 22 different local business owners in a "Shark Tank" style pitch. The ideas included, apps, programs and other services the students believe are needed in society.
Senior Brett Wallar is taking full advantage of the class as he prepares for the future.
"It's really life changing because you actually get to meet business owners, and you get to learn a lot from them and eventually i'll use that to start my own business one day," he said.
The business owners not only challenged students to think critically, but they also gave immediate feedback to each group of students. It's a mentorship the students and teacher are thankful for.
"They're great and they explain kind of what the business is to them, and we kind of take that and we run with it, and we just kind of learn from them and follow in their footsteps," said Aijah Bailey-Rey, a student of the class.
"The mentoring side of it is huge as well because the just taking the experience from one generation passing out to the next it's just super valuable," said Kyle Rowland, who works at TechMentor.
His company also donated 15 hours of software design to the winning team of the "Shark Tank" pitch Tuesday. Based off the shark's investment, the group R.A.A.M's business plan apparently has a bright future.
"We are centered around helping making mental health and cataloguing things for appointments much easier," Julia Broderick explained about her teams product.
She said the work they're doing now, and what they're learning now, will help create a better market for everyone in end.
"It can make everyone's lives easier to just make a big impact for a problem that we have a solution for," Broderick added.
The entrepenuriship program at LBHS is always looking for more local business owners to help mentor the students in the class, especially as the program grows.
J'Nata Walker is the teacher of the entreneurship class at LBHS. She said the knowledge and skills her students are learning through activities like the one Tuesday will help far outside of high school.
"I think this is important because not only does my class teach them confidence, but it builds character," she said. "These are life skills that they're going to take with them for the rest of their life. I love my math teachers, but some of the math I tell them they joke about this all the time. These long equations you really won't use that when you go out, but my class you'll use that in real world."