Calling All Staten Island Young Entrepreneurs! Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) Recruiting Students for 2025

The Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Foundation is searching for high school students who could be the next Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos. Applications are now being accepted for the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) 2024-2025 class. YEA! is an afterschool, extracurricular program that guides high school students through launching and running their own real businesses or nonprofits. 

YEA! is open to all Staten Island students in grades 9 to 12. While in the Academy, students will receive all the necessary tools to launch their own real businesses. This includes access to valuable resources like attorneys, accountants, graphic designers, personalized mentors, and business leaders on Staten Island. 

YEA! participants will have an audience with investors for real start-up cash – similar to the popular television show Shark Tank. Select students will also have the opportunity to move on to the national competition and receive college scholarships. 

Interested teens can apply online at https://www.sichamber.com/yea. The selection process is competitive, and applicants are urged to apply as soon as possible. YEA! classes will meet on Tuesdays from 4:30 PM- 7:30 PM from December 2024 to April 2025. Classes will take place at the Chamber’s office at 2555 Richmond Avenue, Suite 240, with occasional field trips to various locations around Staten Island.   

Business leaders who are interested in getting involved with the YEA! program can also contact the Chamber for details.  

For any questions about the application and interview process or the program in general, please call (718) 727-1900 ext. 1001 or email dwiseman@sichamber.com.  

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) 

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) is a groundbreaking and exciting academic year class that transforms high school students into real, confident entrepreneurs. Throughout the class, students develop business ideas, write business plans, conduct market research, pitch their plans to a panel of investors, and actually launch and run their own real, legal, fully formed companies and social movements. Founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester with support from the Kauffman Foundation, the Young Entrepreneurs Academy today serves thousands of students in communities across America. This year will be the Chamber’s 11th year running the program. For more information about the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, call 585-272-3535 or visit www.yeausa.org 

Start as a student and finish as a CEO!©