NSU University School VIEWPOINT Spring 2019

12 UPPER SCHOOL BREWINGUP BUSINESS Jan Northrop, M.S., Middle School associate director and lacrosse program director, challenges our students to work hard, work smart, and take risks. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science from The Pennsylvania State University, he entered the corporate world, gaining experience in sales, banking, and investment management. “But, I knew teaching and coachingwere the path for me,” saidNorthrop, who joined NSU University School in 2011, bringing his years of real-world business experience into our classrooms and on the field. “I have never looked back.” Northrop advanced his teacher training at NSU and received an M.S. in Teaching and Learning in 2016. Now serving as associate director of the Middle School, he formerly taught grade 12 Honors Economics and AP Government courses in the Upper School. An entrepreneur by nature and a proponent of experiential learning, Northrop collaboratedwith Samantha Nelson, director of experiential learning at USchool, to offer Upper School students the opportunity to learn how to build a business from the ground up. The 10 students currently participating in the program are busy honing their entrepreneurial, financial literacy, and collaborative skills through the process of planning UBrew, a mock coffee shop concept. With Northrop’s mentorship, the students learned how to write a theoretical business plan, which includes organizational management, marketing plans, competitive analysis, and cash flow statements with fixed and variable costs. The entrepreneurial students received additional feedback on their business plan during a Skype session with Northrop’s brother Ian (whograduated fromWest Point in 1999 andHarvard Business School in 2006). Ian reviews business plans for start- up companies in Washington, D.C. While UBrew is still in its infancy, the students have structured the organization to support a sales manager, inventory manager, marketing and advertising manager, HR manager, accountant/bookkeeper, and baristas. Through experiential learning opportunities like this, our Upper School students are creatively collaboratingwhile learningabout risk assessment, overcoming challenges, and goal setting— lessons that will prove invaluable in college and beyond. Entrepreneurial Students Are