Wheaton College welcomed Praxis Academy through an event hosted by Opus: The Art of Work. Geared towards future entrepreneurs who want to make an impact on the world, the half-day workshop took place Saturday, Jan. 31, and included in-person interviews with Christian entrepreneurs and training on approaching vocation with creativity and agility.
Praxis exists “to equip top undergraduate students pursuing entrepreneurship through exposure to successful founders across multiple sectors and geographies, key theological and cultural learning, and a high-caliber peer community.”
The half-day workshop was just a small taste of what Praxis has to offer. Each summer, Praxis accepts a number of applications to be in the annual Praxis Academy Class. Selected students gather for five days of “applied learning on theology, culture and entrepreneurship from world-class entrepreneurs and cultural thinkers,” with a focus on “building friendships with like-minded peers who are pursuing high-impact entrepreneurship.”
A step beyond the Academy Class is the Future Founders Apprenticeship (FFA). FFA takes up to 12 students and places them in an eight week apprenticeship program “at a high growth venture (a business, nonprofit, or social enterprise),” that has been approved by Praxis. Throughout the course of the eight weeks students have unprecedented access to the founder and CEO of the company they are paired with as well as a curriculum and mentors from the Praxis team.
Current student body president Josh Fort and FFA alumnus describes his time with Praxis as one in which he “learned lessons about personal development, leadership, and my own shortcomings that I don’t think I would have ever learned from an internship.”
Similarly, Whitney Bauck, a Wheaton alumna who completed her apprenticeship the same year as Fort, said, “The Praxis community is one I intend to stay connected to for a long, long time.” Bauck was paired with Liz Bohannon, founder of Sseko Designs, while Fort was paired with Anthony Flynn, founder of The Gifted Education Foundation.
The 2016 Praxis Academy application deadline is April 17, 2016. , and the Future Founders Apprenticeship deadline is March 1, 2016.
Further information and application details can be found here.