At the Audacious Summer @ Chick-fil-A, rising 6th through 8th graders learn and apply design thinking, entrepreneurship, and innovation to address real-world challenges with a small team of peers.

Over the course of five days, you will:

• Develop the entrepreneurial mindset and learn innovation techniques.
• Apply design thinking to tackle a real challenge you and your peers identify.
• Design a new product, service, or initiative to address your team’s challenge.
• Learn tools to refine your ideas, build prototypes, and seek customer input.
• Engage with local entrepreneurs who coach and mentor your team.
• Pitch to an expert panel of judges for feedback.

Want to transform your life and our nation by tackling pressing global and local problems? Learn how entrepreneurs, innovators, and designers approach problems to develop new and exciting solutions. Start each day with creativity challenges to stretch your imagination and exercise new muscles in your brain. Meet students from across Metro Atlanta schools and collaborate on fun and exciting projects!

At the Audacious Summer @ Chick-fil-A, student teams experience creative-driven careers first-hand at the Hatch Incubator, Chick-fil-A’s preeminent innovation center! Students work with mentors to develop a solution concept and business model, entertain feedback from potential customers, and pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.

The program is packed with hands-on activities, 21st century skill development opportunities, team challenges, and mentorship to help students start planning for college and 21st century careers!

What better place to learn these innovative skills than at Hatch, Chick-fil-A’s Innovation Center in Atlanta!

• Introductions & icebreakers. 
• Fail fast to find success: the growth mindset.
• Innovator’s DNA.
• The Backpack Challenge.
• Design Thinking 101.
• ‘3 Questions’ activity.

• Morning challenge.
• Team challenge kickoff.
• Need finding & empathy interviews.
• Career lunch panel.
• Customer discovery.
• ‘Personas’ challenge.

• Goal setting & success definition warm-up.
• ‘Get out of the building’ exercise.
• Analyze for insights.
• Develop a point of view.
• Ideation I.
• Feedback session I.

• Morning challenge.
• Ideation II.
• Design challenge: Marshmallow activity.
• Prototyping.
• Business Model Refinement w/Mentors.
• Testing & Feedback II.

• The Art of the Pitch.
• Finding purpose and making an impact.
• Mystery questions.
• Final Pitch Competition & Teen Showcase.
• Judging and feedback.