LEWISTON – The Lewiston Regional Technical Center will be the first technical high school in Maine to offer a new course sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In the Young Entrepreneurs Academy class, students will learn how to start a business, LRTC Director Rob Callahan told the School Committee on Monday night.

Committee members voted to approve the new program, which will begin this fall. The vote authorized LRTC to enter a partnership with the Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce.

The class will be taught by Phil Downs, who teaches business at LRTC and Central Maine Community College in Auburn.

The academy is a national program sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Campaign for Free Enterprise.

Last year, chamber President Chip Morrison brought the course to the area as a chamber class to students from Southern and Central Maine.

The course “offers students the opportunity to create a business from the ground up,” Callahan said. Students will learn about banking and financing, sales and trade show, registering with government agencies, the business enterprise of social movements, develop and manage media campaigns.

Near the end of the class, students meet with investors to pitch their business proposal in hopes of winning grants to kick-start their ideas, Callahan said.

The class is rich and rigorous, a serious commitment by students, Callahan said.

Last year, Morrison’s class was a great success. He held the program from 4 to 6  p.m., but the timing made it difficult for some students to attend if they had other commitments, Callahan said.

This year, the program will be taught during the regular school day at LRTC, available to second-year students who have already taken some business courses from one of the six sending high schools.

The cost for LRTC to teach the U.S. Chamber course is $7,000 a year, Callahan said, and the costs are covered.

Morrison is so excited about the program at LRTC that he’s secured the money, donations from local businesses, to pay for it.

Downs told School Committee members the course will be “an exciting program” and contagious. “We feel there will be a lot of interest and participation.”

The course will start small with 10 students.

Also Monday, the committee voted to approve two new graduation requirements that will begin with the Class of 2017. Graduates that year will have to show they can deliver a developed oral presentation and use technology effectively.

Lewiston City Councilor Donald D’Auteuil, the representative on the School Committee, questioned whether a student would not be allowed to graduate if that student was afraid to speak in front of large groups.

Superintendent Bill Webster said students will be helped by faculty members to work through that fear so they’re able to communicate well. Webster brought up a recent “Dear Abby” letter where a man in his late 20s froze up at job interviews and was unemployed. “The goal is not to allow someone to graduate, but “to cultivate these skills,” Webster said.

Committee members also accepted the resignation of Lewiston High School Principal Gus LeBlanc, and approved the nomination of Paul Amnott to serve as interim principal until a replacement is found.

LeBlanc is leaving to become headmaster of Lee Academy, a private school near Bangor. Several committee members lauded LeBlanc’s leadership at the high school and at Montello Elementary, where he also served as principal.

School Committee Chairman Jim Handy wished LeBlanc the best at Lee Academy and said he’s appreciative “of what you have done for students at Lewiston High School” and Montello Elementary.

“You set Montello on the course it needed to be for so many children in the midst at many challenges. You’ll always have a home here,” Handy said of Lewiston.

LeBlanc said his work in Lewiston during the last 15 years have been “a wonderful experience. I love the kids in this town.” He said he is fortunate to have worked with so many dedicated teachers and administrators.

“l will always have fond memories of Lewiston,” LeBlanc said. “I’m really glad I worked here.”

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