By Edgar Ocana, NFTE New England [1] graduate
NFTE is more than just a program that focuses on teaching entrepreneurship, it also changes lives. My name is Edgar Ocana, freshman at Babson College [2] in Wellesley, MA. I’m 18, from Chelsea MA, born in Los Angeles, and am the first born son and first in my family to go to college. Because of NFTE, I had an excellent entrepreneurship class in high school, a NFTE-trained teacher who helped me in multiple ways, and a program that helped me in my pursuit to a higher education.
When I took entrepreneurship my senior year of high school, I thought it was just going to be a fun and easy elective to get me by my senior year. I was interested in going into business after my junior year. I heard some good things about the class, such as a day trip to New York, and a bunch of other field trips. As the days continued, I realized the many factors in having a different mindset for business. We spent a lot of time looking for an opportunity to solve a problem, or create a change that people would be interested in investing their time and money. We did many activities, and grew throughout the year from kids who had no idea for a business, to well-dressed business young adults ready to give a business plan presentation in front of judges. I learned first-hand how to take an unfortunate event and turn it into an opportunity that can benefit me. When my business plan didn’t go through, I wasn’t mad or upset. I saw the weaknesses in my business plan, and now try to view every possible factor that can help me or hurt me.
I owe a lot to my entrepreneurship teacher, Gail Treanor. I met her during my junior year as my homeroom teacher. She talked a lot about her entrepreneurship class. So senior year, I took entrepreneurship. I also switched out of Spanish 1 (which I can fluently speak and somehat read and write) so I could be in her accounting 1 class. Both accounting and entrepreneurship settled my doubts about whether I wanted to go into business. She wrote me a letter of recommendation for college, and through NFTE’s entrepreneurship class, I was introduced to Babson College. The NFTE U classes and teacher workshops truly prepare teachers to be a great resource for students in the class.
NFTE also had a big impact on my college education. I applied to Babson, Bentley, Bryant, UMass Boston, UMass Amherst, and Newbury College. I got my letter of acceptance from Babson, and was amazed when they offered me the NFTE scholarship. It was a 4 year, all tuition paid scholarship to Babson College. My mom was in tears, dad was happy,