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Congratulations to our winners!

Congratulations to our entire Teacherpreneur cohort! We are so proud of the work they put in and are excited to see what is next for them and their ideas.

First Place
Dr. Jennifer Love

East Nashville Magnet High School
Jennifer Love designed an idea to incorporate a social-emotional learning curriculum in student athletics to provide increased access to mental health supports for high school students.

Second Place
Nathan Fields

Hillsboro High School

Nathan Fields from Hillsboro High School earned second place for his plan to create an interactive, challenge-based program designed alongside students to grow interest and achievement in science curriculum.

Third Place
Sarai Ovalle

Antioch Middle School

Sarai Ovalle from Antioch Middle School earned third place for her idea for a program to increase access to magnet schools for academically advanced English Learner students.

Community Favorite
Dr. Kellee Hill

Whites Creek High School

Dr. Kellee Hill from Whites Creek High School earned the Community Favorite award for her idea to provide supports to science teachers to help them make Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) curriculum more accessible and engaging for English Learner students.

Congratulations to our winners!

First Place
Quanita Adams

Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School

Quanita Adams designed an idea to create a network of supports
for novice teachers in schools that experience high teacher turnover.

Second Place
Daven Oglesby

Lakeview Elementary Design Center

Daven Oglesby from Lakeview Elementary Design Center earned second place for his plan to support special education students to develop independent living skills in the elementary school classroom.

Third Place
Addison Barrack

Margaret Allen Middle School

Addison Barrack from Margaret Allen Middle School earned third place for her plan to design a flexible school environment for students who need to work to support themselves and attend school simultaneously.

Community Favorite
LaKesha Rayford

Glencliff Entrepreneurship STEAM Magnet Elementary

LaKesha Rayford from Glencliff Entrepreneurship STEAM Magnet Elementary School earned the Community Favorite award for her idea to empower students to address cultural gaps with their peers and teachers through a supportive model.

Congratulations to every member of the inaugural cohort for designing and pitching your excellent ideas!

Meet the Cohort

Tabatha Barner
2nd Grade Teacher, Glencliff Entrepreneurship STEAM Magnet Elementary School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"To bring my idea to life. This is a great cohort for hearing about great ideas teachers have."

Anna Bernstein
8th Grade ELA Teacher, Bellevue Middle School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I want to explore innovative strategies to make teaching a more sustainable career."

Taylor Edens
Science Teacher, Early College High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"Collaborate and share ideas with other educators about solutions to better our district."

Nathan Fields
Science Teacher, Hillsboro High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I started up a business alongside peers with disabilities two years ago. We want to be a true business managed and owned alongside people with and without disabilities. I need help fleshing out the vision for an assessable workforce where people with and without disabilities have shared buy-in and opportunities to develop together."

Kellee Hill
Science Teacher, Whites Creek High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"Applying to the Teacherpreneur program was compelled by the opportunity to change the landscape of learning for my students. The bonus of creating something lasting impacts students who are emerging English learners within the district or Middle Tennessee Area."

Jennifer Love
AVID Coordinator & Teacher, East Nashville Magnet High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I've always been passionate about education; however, in recent years, I have become more passionate about addressing issues in education. Teacherpreneur provides an opportunity to brainstorm and network with other people passionate about addressing educational challenges."

Sarai Ovalle
8th Grade EL Teacher, Antioch Middle School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I attended MNPS schools K-12 and have seen the district go through many changes. We have recently made many positive moves as a district, but many inequities remain to be solved. As an EL teacher and former EL student I applied for Teacherpreneur to use my voice, experiences, and love of learning to catalyze change and contribute in creating true equity in MNPS for all students."

Jonathan Parrish
Math Teacher, W.A. Bass Alternative Learning Center High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"An opportunity to fine tune a concept that may dramatically enhance human welfare."

Christopher Reid
Exceptional Education Teacher, Cole Elementary School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I applied to Teacherpreneur to have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators to identify and help erase the inequities being faced in the district and the field of education."

Sam Singer
Literacy Coach, Glencliff High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I believe this is a great opportunity to grow my skills and advocacy in ways that can foster positive impact for our students and families."

Kate Sundell
Social Studies Teacher, LEAD Academy High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"The opportunity to grow my own network by working with other committed educators and working towards solutions to issues of equity that impact my school and larger school community."

Create. Refine. Pilot. Scale.

The Teacherpreneur program is designed to harness educator innovation to remove inequities and build schools where all students thrive.

This professional learning opportunity will help teachers identify, design, and pilot innovative solutions while changing the way our community sees educators - as change-makers both in and beyond the walls of their classroom.
The Teacherpreneur cohort will participate in professional learning from December through February to design and refine their innovative solutions to eliminate systemic inequities in our schools. The cohort experience will culminate in a prototype pitch event in early March awarding $25,000 in cash prizes to the top concepts.

Select winners will be chosen for seed funding to implement or scale their innovative solution.

SEE LAST YEAR'S COHORT AND WINNING SOLUTIONS
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Tabatha Barner
2nd Grade Teacher, Glencliff Entrepreneurship STEAM Magnet Elementary School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"To bring my idea to life. This is a great cohort for hearing about great ideas teachers have."

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Anna Bernstein
8th Grade ELA Teacher, Bellevue Middle School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I want to explore innovative strategies to make teaching a more sustainable career."

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Taylor Edens
Science Teacher, Early College High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"Collaborate and share ideas with other educators about solutions to better our district."

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Nathan Fields
Science Teacher, Hillsboro High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I started up a business alongside peers with disabilities two years ago. We want to be a true business organized alongside managed and owned alongside people with and without disabilities. We would like to be a disability owned business. I need help fleshing out the vision for an assessable workforce where people with and without disabilities have shared buy-in and opportunities to develop together."

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Kellee Hill
Science Teacher, Whites Creek High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"Applying to the Teacherpreneur program was compelled by the opportunity to change the landscape of learning for my students. The bonus of creating something lasting impacts students who are emerging English learners within the district or Middle Tennessee Area."

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Jennifer Love
AVID Coordinator & Teacher, East Nashville Magnet High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I've always been passionate about education; however, in recent years, I have become more passionate about addressing issues in education. Teacherpreneur provides an opportunity to brainstorm and network with other people passionate about addressing educational challenges."

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Sarai Ovalle
8th Grade EL Teacher, Antioch Middle School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I attended MNPS schools K-12 and have seen the district go through many changes. We have recently made many positive moves as a district, but many inequities remain to be solved. As an EL teacher and former EL student I applied for Teacherpreneur to use my voice, experiences, and love of learning to catalyze change and contribute in creating true equity in MNPS for all students."

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Jonathan Parrish
Math Teacher, W.A. Bass Alternative Learning Center High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"An opportunity to fine tune a concept that may dramatically enhance human welfare."

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Christopher Reid
Exceptional Education Teacher, Cole Elementary School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I applied to Teacherpreneur to have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators to identify and help erase the inequities being faced in the district and the field of education."

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Sam Singer
Literacy Coach, Glencliff High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"I believe this is a great opportunity to grow my skills and advocacy in ways that can foster positive impact for our students and families."

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Kate Sundell
Social Studies Teacher, LEAD Academy High School

What made you want to apply to Teacherpreneur?
"The opportunity to grow my own network by working with other committed educators and working towards solutions to issues of equity that impact my school and larger school community."

THE COHORT's JOURNEY

See below for some highlights from our inaugural Teacherpeneur cohort as they prepared to pitch their prototypes on February 24.

Cohort mentor Brian Purvis advises the inaugural cohort

Teacherpreneurs David Myers and Paula Pendergrass discuss root causes of educational inequities

Teacherpreneurs Addison Barrack and LaKesha Rayford share findings from their empathy interviews

Teacherpreneurs Justin Montenegro and Nita Smith practice their pitches and provide feedback

Inspired by words from local entrepreneur and educator Emily Freitag, CEO of Instruction Partners, to “find a problem you can fall in love with,” our 12 Teacherpreneurs are designing solutions to problems they are most passionate about addressing. Some of these include:

  • The effect of high teacher turnover on teachers and students
  • The need for more effective instructional supports for English Learners
  • The struggle of balancing work and school for some students
  • The lack of access to teachers of color
  • The lack of accessible opportunities for parents to engage in their child’s education

"Teachers are the backbone of education! To hear the passion and brilliance of my Teacherpreneurs cohort members was confirmation of why this think-tank is needed and even more so amid such perilous times in education."

- Inaugural cohort member

Teacherpreneurs Nikki Bolling and Chriseni Pulse discuss ways to increase equitable access to parent involvement activities

Each cohort member received a box full of books, supplies, and mementos

Teacherpreneurs Daven Oglesby and Quanita Adams practice their pitches and provide feedback

NPEF's Katie Cour interviews Instruction Partners CEO Emily Freitag

Here’s what our inaugural cohort had to say about participating in Teacherpreneur:

"The opportunity to become a Teacherpreneur with NPEF shifted my perspective to view how I might package my ideas and get them into the hands of people who want to know more. This training expanded my knowledge in ways that I did not know existed."

“I learned strategies for networking, marketing, and change management. I feel empowered as a teacher leader to now use these strategies in a variety of contexts. Teacherpreneur was unique in the opportunity to develop interpersonal skills that can initiate and cultivate lasting changes in an organization.”
“The NPEF facilitators effectively crafted development sessions that attended to our time, engagement, expanded our resources, and more. This experience helped me to deepen my understanding in a whole new direction. After 30 years of teaching, this was the first professional development that provided a new paradigm shift of how my expertise can be harnessed for others to succeed in and outside of the classroom.”

"The Teacherpreneur experience empowered me to fight for change within the education world, and showed me that change is truly possible within our classrooms, schools, and district!"

Thinking of applying but want more information? Click below to read our FAQ document.

teacherpreneur FAQ's

Applications for Cohort 2 close October 30 at midnight.

APPLY HERE

The Teacherpreneur application is open to any MNPS or charter school certificated non-administrative staff (teachers, librarians, counselors, etc.).

Teacherpreneur sessions will take place from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. on the following dates:

Session 1 | December 8, 2022

Session 2| January 12, 2023

Session 3 | January 19, 2023

Session 4 | February 2, 2023

Session 5 | February 16, 2023

Teacherpreneurs will also participate in office hours held virtually in between sessions and the pitch event in early March, timing TBD.

learn more about the inaugural cohort

Teacherpreneur in the news

Nashville teachers confronting classroom inequities through 'Teacherpreneur' program

NewsChannel 5, 1/11/22

A dozen Nashville teachers will try to tackle some of Metro Schools' biggest challenges

The Tennessean, 12/27/21