Enterprise Track — What's Different
Field Experience · 10 A-day students · self-enterprise & Bulldog Media
These 10 students meet on A days for the full year and run their own business or work for a school enterprise. They do not go to an outside placement, which means two activities have to be replaced outright and ten need reframing. This document is only the differences — everything not listed here is identical to the Placement cohort and can be taught in the same room.
The one-sentence version
Same course, same grading categories, same weights, same 12 blocks — but where the Placement cohort points at an employer, this cohort points at their own business, and where the Placement cohort has a site supervisor scoring them, this cohort has a Quarterly Review Board and a client feedback form.
Same Teach it unchanged (4 activities)
Adapted Same lesson, different examples (10)
Replaced Different activity entirely (2)
What changes, at a glance
| # | Activity | Enterprise | What's different |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Begin With the End in Mind | Adapted | May capstone instead of December; gate is “not current, not remote” |
| 2 | Career & Self-Assessment | Adapted | Adds market research — who else does this, what do they charge |
| 3 | Your Professional Brand | Adapted | Adds a business brand layer on top of the personal one |
| 4 | Resume Workshop | Same | Nothing — teach it as written |
| 5 | Explore & Apply | Replaced | Becomes Define Your Enterprise |
| 6 | Elevator Pitch | Adapted | Pitch is the business, not the job seeker |
| 7 | Interview Skills | Adapted | Same STAR teach, client-side questions including pricing |
| 8 | Mock Interview | Adapted | Step 1 shared; Step 2 becomes a Client Pitch Panel |
| 9 | Interview Improvement Plan | Same | Nothing — teach it as written |
| 10 | Workplace Dilemma Stations | Adapted | Adds “no supervisor to escalate to” framing at each station |
| 11 | Meet Your 10 Employability Skills | Adapted | Adds the three scoring voices: self, client, Review Board |
| 12 | Post-Assessment | Same | Nothing — teach it as written |
| 13 | Placement Confirmed | Replaced | Becomes Enterprise Confirmed |
| 14 | Goal Conference | Same | Adds one question: what would make you quit by November? |
| 15 | Internship Plan of Success | Adapted | Becomes Business Plan of Success; Dec + May scope |
| 16 | Launch Day | Adapted | Same ritual, different date; post the Review Board dates |
The two that cannot be shared
Both are the same problem: the Placement cohort's activity depends on an outside employer, and this cohort does not have one.
- Activity 5, Explore & Apply → there is no job menu to browse and no application to submit. Replaced by Define Your Enterprise.
- Activity 13, Placement Confirmed → there is no employer to confirm and no onboarding paperwork. Replaced by Enterprise Confirmed.
The two replacement activities, in full
These are proposals, not settled lessons — there is note space under each. They are built to sit in the same slot and take the same 90 minutes as the activity they replace.
5
Define Your Enterprise
Replaces Activity 5 — Explore & Apply
The block that makes the whole year gradeable
Placement students get their scope handed to them by an employer. Enterprise students have to define their own. A student whose enterprise is still vague in November is a student you cannot grade, coach, or defend at a Review Board — so nobody leaves without a written scope.What we do in class
- Name the enterprise: what is the business, who is the customer, what do they pay for? One paragraph, no jargon.
- If a student cannot say who pays, they do not have a business yet — they have an interest. Today's job is to narrow it until someone specific is paying for something specific.
- Scope of work: what will exist by December that does not exist today? What exists by May? Concrete deliverables, not aspirations.
- Bulldog Media students scope against the real production calendar — games, events, announcements — so their year has actual deadlines in it.
- Hours plan: 60 hours is the floor and most of this cohort will pass it easily. The real work is deciding when, how long, and logged how. Self-directed students fail on logging, not on effort.
- Name your client or advisor: at least one external person who will complete a feedback form. A paying client, a recurring customer, or the Bulldog Media advisor.
Why the client/advisor name is non-negotiable
- The Employer/Advisor Evaluation is 20% of the grade and it needs a voice that is not yours and not the student's.
- No name today means no external voice in their grade, and by October it is too late to invent one. Chase this item specifically.
Student submits
Written enterprise scope (December and May deliverables) · hours plan · named client or advisor. Required before the Client Pitch Panel — a student with no scope has nothing to pitch.
Our changes
13
Enterprise Confirmed
Replaces Activity 13 — Placement Confirmed
Where the remote-work gate gets its teeth
The Placement cohort's equivalent is a signed training agreement with an outside business. This is the Enterprise version: the point where you personally sign off that this student has a real, scoped, gradeable enterprise and has earned the privilege of working off campus.What we do in class
- Sign off one at a time, individually — not as a whole-class announcement.
- Confirm: final scope, named client or advisor, hours plan, and where the work physically happens.
- Remote work agreement, written and signed: where you work, how you are reachable during your A-day block, what you submit weekly.
- Bulldog Media students add the equipment and studio access agreement.
- Client feedback form logistics: who sends it, when, and what happens if a client goes quiet. Give them the escalation path now — a missing form in October is a missing 20% of the grade.
The gate, stated plainly
- An unconfirmed enterprise does not get remote privileges. Working off campus is earned by being current, and it can be taken back.
- Say the whole thing out loud today: not current, not remote. If you are behind, you report to class on your A day until you are caught up.
Student submits
Post-assessment submitted · enterprise confirmed and signed by you · remote work agreement on file · equipment agreement where applicable.
Our changes
Pacing — What to Compress, and What It Buys You
This cohort does not need every block at full length, and they need things the Placement cohort never will. Shortening the 7 blocks below frees roughly three blocks of A-day time for enterprise-only content.
The principle
Compress the blocks that assume somebody else is going to hire you, and spend the time on the blocks that assume you are the one running it. A student who will never sit in a job interview this year does not need the full interview-logistics treatment — but they urgently need to know what to charge and where their own ethical line is.
| # | Activity | Run it | Time | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Begin With the End in Mind | Full | 90 min | Sets the tone and the gate for the whole year. Never compress this one. |
| 2 | Career & Self-Assessment | Full | 90 min | The baseline 10-skill rating is what their Review Board scores get measured against. |
| 3 | Your Professional Brand | Full | 90 min | They need MORE here, not less — personal brand plus the business brand layer. |
| 4 | Resume Workshop | Compress | 45 min | Still required, but it is not their main event. Build it, peer review, submit — skip the extended conference cycle. |
| 5 | Explore & Apply | Replaced | 90 min | Becomes Define Your Enterprise. Full block, do not shorten. |
| 6 | Elevator Pitch | Full | 90 min | This is their business pitch and they will use it all year. High value, keep it whole. |
| 7 | Interview Skills | Compress | 45 min | Keep STAR (it is the reflection format) and the client-side questions. Drop the depth on interview dress and job-interview logistics. |
| 8 | Mock Interview | Compress | 60 min | Skip the peer speed-interview half. Go straight to the Client Pitch Panel, which is the part that matters for them. |
| 9 | Interview Improvement Plan | Compress | 30 min | Read the panel feedback, name two changes. Short and focused. |
| 10 | Workplace Dilemma Stations | Full | 90 min | Keep whole — and treat it as the on-ramp to the Business Ethics block below. |
| 11 | Meet Your 10 Employability Skills | Compress | 45 min | Walk the 10 skills and the scale. They do not need the full simulation treatment. |
| 12 | Post-Assessment | Compress | 30 min | Individual work on the same instrument. Can run alongside something else. |
| 13 | Placement Confirmed | Replaced | 90 min | Becomes Enterprise Confirmed. Full block — this is where the remote-work gate gets its teeth. |
| 14 | Goal Conference | Full | 90 min | Essential. Self-directed students fail from drift, and this is the block where you catch it. |
| 15 | Internship Plan of Success | Full | 90 min | Becomes the Business Plan of Success. Needs the whole block — it is their roadmap to May. |
| 16 | Launch Day | Compress | 30 min | Launch ritual only. Pair it with the Business Plan block. |
Enterprise-Only Blocks
What the recovered time is for. These are proposals with note space — the first one is the one specifically asked for.
+1
Business Ethics — Building Something That Lasts
Michael's call — build this one first
Why this block existsMost students starting a business are optimizing for one thing: make money fast. That instinct is not wrong, it is just short-sighted — and it is the single fastest way to end a business at seventeen. This block exists to make the case that the way you make the money is the business, and that a reputation is the only asset a young founder actually has to sell.
The core argument to make
- You can make money once by cutting a corner. You cannot make it twice. Every customer you burn is a customer who tells other customers.
- At seventeen, with no track record, no reviews, and no brand — your reputation is your entire inventory. It is the thing customers are actually buying when they take a chance on you.
- Legal is the floor, not the goal. Plenty of things you can legally do to a customer will still finish your business.
- The students who are still running something in two years are almost never the ones who charged the most. They are the ones people trusted enough to come back to.
Dilemmas built for people who work for themselves
- A customer overpays you and clearly has not noticed. What do you do, and what does it cost you either way?
- You can finish this job in half the time by cutting a corner nobody will ever see. Does "nobody will see it" change whether it is wrong?
- You are mid-job and realize you are not actually qualified to finish it well. Admitting that is embarrassing and expensive. Finishing badly is neither — until later.
- A customer asks you to trash a competitor. That competitor is a classmate.
- Cash job, no record, nobody would ever know. Do you report it?
- You promised a deadline you now cannot hit. When do you tell them — as soon as you know, or when you have to?
- You could use a photo, logo, font, or song you do not own and almost certainly not get caught.
- Someone offers you good money for work that is legal but makes you uncomfortable.
Pricing honestly
- Charging what the work is worth versus charging what you can get away with — and why the second one only works on people who will not come back.
- Underpricing is also an ethics problem, not just a business mistake: it devalues the work, it teaches customers your time is free, and it usually ends in you resenting the job and doing it badly.
- Telling a customer the true price before you start, including the part they will not like.
What you owe a customer even when it costs you
- Telling them early when something goes wrong — the single highest-value professional habit in this entire course.
- When a refund or a redo is the right answer, and how to offer one without falling apart.
- Saying no to work you cannot do well. Turning down money is a skill.
- For Bulldog Media and anyone who says "I go to Batavia": your conduct attaches to the school's name whether you intend it to or not.
Student produces
Written responses to two dilemmas, plus three rules of their own — "things I will not do for money" — signed and added to their Business Plan of Success. Hand these back at the May capstone and ask whether they held.
Running itRun this after the Workplace Dilemma Stations block, not before. The stations warm them up on workplace ethics generally; this block narrows it to the specific problem of having no boss, no HR, and nobody but themselves deciding where the line is.
Our changes
+2
Money — Pricing, Tracking, and the Tax Conversation
Strong candidate for the second recovered block
Why this block existsSelf-employed students almost universally under-track. They know roughly what came in, nothing about what went out, and nothing about the fact that some of it is not theirs to keep. This is also where the 60-hour requirement stops being abstract for them.
What we do in class
- Set a price for their actual service, out loud, and defend it to the room.
- Build a one-page tracker: money in, money out, hours spent. Simple enough that they will actually keep it.
- Cost of doing business: materials, software, gas, equipment, the time you do not bill for. Most students discover their real hourly rate is far below what they assumed.
- The tax conversation at a survival level — that self-employment income is reportable, that keeping records now is what makes that survivable later, and that this is a real adult obligation rather than a school hypothetical.
- Separating business money from personal money, and why mixing them is the mistake that makes everything else unknowable.
Student produces
A working tracker with real numbers in it, plus a written price for their service with the reasoning behind it.
Running itYou are not teaching accounting or giving tax advice. The goal is that no student reaches May with no idea what they earned or spent. If a local accountant or the business teacher will give you 20 minutes as a guest, this is the block to use them on.
Our changes
+3
Customers & Commitments
Third recovered block, if you get it
Why this block existsEnterprise students have no supervisor assigning them work, which means every job starts with a conversation they have to run themselves. Most have never scoped a job, agreed a price out loud, or told someone bad news.
What we do in class
- How you actually get customers when nobody knows you exist — and which of those channels is realistic for them this year.
- Scoping a job in writing before starting it: what is included, what is not, when it is due, what it costs. Plain language, not legalese.
- The conversation where you tell a customer something they do not want to hear. Roleplay it, both sides.
- What "done" means, and getting agreement on that up front so it cannot move later.
- Following up after the job — the step nearly everyone skips and the one that produces repeat customers.
Student produces
A one-page scope template they will actually use, filled in for a real or realistic job.
Running itPairs naturally with the Business Ethics block — scope creep and unclear expectations are where most small-business ethics problems actually start, rather than in dramatic moral choices.
Our changes
Sequencing note that matters
Put Business Ethics after the Workplace Dilemma Stations, not before. The stations warm students up on workplace ethics in general; the ethics block narrows it to the specific situation of having no boss, no HR, and nobody but themselves deciding where the line is. Reversed, the stations feel like a repeat.
Activity-by-activity reframing
The ten adapted activities. Same lesson in the same room — these are the adjustments you make out loud while teaching, not a separate plan.
1
Begin With the End in Mind
Course overview · Capstone preview · Syllabus · Website tour · Expectations
What changes for this cohortShow the May capstone, not December. Gate is "not current, not remote" instead of "not on the schedule." Preview the Quarterly Review Board dates (Oct 15 · Dec 16 · Mar 11) so they know they present to adults who are not you.
Our changes
2
Career & Self-Assessment
Career interest reflection · Employability skills pre-assessment · Professional goals
What changes for this cohortSame instrument and same goal-writing scaffold. Add market research alongside the career cluster work: who already does what you do, what do they charge, who buys it. Bulldog Media students research comparable school and small-market media operations.
Our changes
3
Your Professional Brand
Digital footprint audit · LinkedIn setup · Professional email signature · Social media + first impressions
What changes for this cohortAdd a second brand layer on top of the personal one: business name, logo, how a customer actually contacts you, where they would find you. For a self-employed student the personal brand is the company brand. Bulldog Media students audit against the school's existing brand standards rather than inventing their own.
Our changes
6
Elevator Pitch
Write it · Workshop it · Record it
What changes for this cohortThe pitch is the business, not the job seeker: what I do → who it is for → what problem it solves → what I am asking for. Add one question to each rehearsal round: would you actually buy this?
Our changes
7
Interview Skills
Real situations · What to wear · Body language · Communication
What changes for this cohortSame STAR teach, client-side questions: why hire you over someone with more experience, what happens if you miss my deadline, what do you charge and why. Most students have never said a price out loud and defended it.
Our changes
8
Mock Interview
Peer speed interviews · Formal mock · Real feedback · Question bank
What changes for this cohortStep 1 runs together, unchanged. Step 2 becomes a Client Pitch Panel: 5-minute pitch plus 2 minutes of questions to 3–4 panelists. Recruit the panel from people you would also want on the Quarterly Review Boards — it doubles as an audition for both sides.
Our changes
10
Workplace Dilemma Stations
15 dilemmas · Carousel stations · Career clusters · Class debrief
What changes for this cohortAdd an enterprise framing card at each station: you have no supervisor to escalate to — now what? Close the debrief on the four they will actually face: a client who will not pay, a deadline you are going to miss, work you are not qualified for, and a customer who wants something unethical.
Our changes
11
Meet Your 10 Employability Skills
Quick overview · What each one actually means · Why you'll see them all semester
What changes for this cohortAdd how scoring actually works for them: three voices, not two — their own self-assessment, their client or advisor feedback form, and the Quarterly Review Board. A 2-level gap triggers a conversation, not a quiet override.
Our changes
15
Internship Plan of Success
Your roadmap for the semester · Professional intro email
What changes for this cohortBusiness Plan of Success instead: two focus skills, what exists by December, what exists by May, weekly hours target, how you will know it worked. The professional intro email goes to a client or advisor rather than a site supervisor.
Our changes
16
Launch Day
Set your #1 goal · Submit & Launch · Receive your Launch Card
What changes for this cohortSame ritual on a different date. Post the Review Board dates one more time, and name the first remote A day out loud so the transition is not vague.
Our changes
Teach unchanged
Nothing to adapt. If you are co-teaching any block, start with these — they need no split at all.
| # | Activity | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Resume Workshop | No change to the activity. Expect pushback — "I don't need a resume, I work for myself." The answer: college, scholarships, and the day the business ends. "Founded and ran a business in high school" is the strongest line most of them will have for years. |
| 9 | Interview Improvement Plan | Same activity. One addition: where the pitch itself was the weak point, the improvement plan should revise the enterprise scope, not just the delivery. |
| 12 | Post-Assessment | No change. |
| 14 | Goal Conference | Same conference and same form. Add one question for this cohort: what would make you quit on this by November? Self-directed students fail from drift, not from lack of skill, and the answer tells you where to coach. |
What this cohort carries that the Placement cohort does not
The bootcamp is five weeks of a nine-month course. These four items are the year, and they are the reason the Enterprise track is a different program rather than a slower version of the same one.
Quarterly Review Board
Thu Oct 15 · Wed Dec 16 · Thu Mar 11 · Q4 merges into the May capstone
Replaces the site-supervisor evaluation. Board is you plus 2–3 rotating others — business teacher, Bulldog Media advisor, an administrator, a community business owner. Format: 8-minute presentation, 5 minutes of questions. Student brings hours log, deliverables or client work, at least one client feedback form, a completed 10-skill self-assessment, and next quarter's plan. The board scores all 10 skills; scores are averaged, and any 2-level disagreement gets discussed before it is recorded.
Worth knowingScore the employability skills, not the revenue. A student who hustled hard into a bad market has demonstrated more than one who coasted on an easy one.
Our notes
Client / advisor feedback form
At least one per quarter
The external voice in the Professional Growth half of the grade. Student is responsible for sending it and following up; you are responsible for having told them the escalation path before it becomes a problem.
Worth knowingBuild the follow-up into the weekly reflection prompt in the quarter's final two weeks so it does not land as a surprise.
Our notes
Remote work privilege
Every A day after Enterprise Confirmed
They work from home, a job site, or the studio. The privilege is conditional on being current on the hours log and weekly reflection. Behind means they report to class on their A day.
Worth knowingCheck in with all 10 on the first remote A day even though they are off campus. If nobody hears from you that day, the hours logs get thin within a month.
Our notes
Capstone in May, not December
Week of May 10
Same three scored parts as the Placement cohort — 1:30 elevator pitch on the Black Box stage, trade show station in the BFAC Lobby, and portfolio — with nine months of work behind it instead of four. The Q4 Review Board folds into it rather than running separately.
Worth knowingHand back their Business Plan of Success and their day-one index card at the capstone. Nine months is long enough that they will have forgotten what they wrote.
Our notes
The scheduling reality worth planning around
This cohort's twelve blocks are spread across five weeks with a no-class day between almost every one, and the Placement cohort is only in the building for the first six of them. Two consequences: assume this cohort loses the thread between blocks — open each one with two minutes of "here is where we were" — and accept that blocks 7 through 12 are solo no matter what you decide about co-teaching, because by Aug 31 the Placement students are at their sites.
One thing to confirm before Thursday
This whole plan assumes the Enterprise cohort's A-day block is your contact time. If the Bulldog Media students spend that block with the media advisor instead, the twelve-block window shrinks and the dates shift. Worth a five-minute conversation before Aug 13 rather than discovering it in week two.
Generated from bootcamp.html by generate-bootcamp-task-lists.js. Companion documents: Master Task List · Bootcamp Calendar · Grading Policy.